In 1847 the American Medical Association (AMA) was founded by Nathan Davis with the purpose of “To promote advancement of medicine, medical education standards and governing medical ethics,” reflects their social responsibility and commitment to America’s health care industry (American Medical Association, 1995-2013). The American Medical Association is an organization that bases its philosophies on core values and a strong code of ethics. The goal of the AMA is to improve the healthcare industry for patients and medical Running Head: PAPER 2 2 professionals while developing acceptable ethical behavior.
This paper will analyze the relationship between the AMA’s code of ethics and core values. AMA As stated earlier, the AMA is here to promote advancement of medicine, medical education standards and governing medical ethics. The AMA’s philosophies set the goals they want to attain. The AMA identifies the need for change and believes that sound leadership is crucial to the success of healthcare. They build on their heritage of be the leaders in medical professional ethics, developing medical education standards and advancing science all while Running Head: PAPER 2 3 serving as the voice for core values in medicine (AMA, 1995).
The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs governs and composes AMA ethics policies and updates for the Code of Medical Ethics. This guidance expresses the overarching values of medicine as a profession. The Code of Medical Ethics is a living document, this allows for it to be updated easily as changes in medicine and healthcare arise. This allows for changes to be made in real time and brought to the field for those to utilize. The core values and goals that the AMA develop play a major role in their social responsibility to provide value based medicine to public health.
The AMA’s core values hinge on executive and provider leadership, excellence in safety, education and ethics and integrity in all medical providers. It’s goals are to improve healthcare system for patients and medical professionals while establishing acceptable ethical behavior. Ethics is important in healthcare in order to provide quality focused patient centered medical care. Quality of care is destroyed when proper ethical behavior is not conducted throughout the system. It is important that doctors, administrators and health care workers follow and enforce this ethical behavior.
Ethical decision-making involves identifying the problem, identifying possible solutions, establishing moral concerns and priorities, and implementing the decision. It is important for these healthcare professionals to utilize this method in order to not cross ethical or moral boundaries. Along with ethics the AMA also promotes the values of safety and quality and consistently ingrain this into the medical culture (AMA, 2012). The AMA also has developed a code of conduct which defines behavior, harassment, interventions and clinical practice guidelines (AMA, 2013). Stress hinders memory-retrieval and the ability to recognize ethical dilemmas (Selart, Johansen pg. 132).
Living ethics on a daily basis and instilling ethical behaviors in yourself and those around you allow for the body and mind to not have to have deep thought in these Running Head: PAPER 2 4 situations but, allow for muscle memory to take over. Making these decisions involves removing uncertainty which builds patient and staff confidence (Garrett, Baillie, McGeehan, and Garrett, 2010, pg. 12). Communication with staff members regarding ethical decision making and empowering any member to call a “knock off” should they feel a situation or decision is unethical is important for a symbiotic working relationship.
This improved open communication between medical staff will improve customer satisfaction and employee retention. Healthcare providers and professional organizations must provide their patients with the best service and quality care all while maintaining patients-rights and enforcing applicable healthcare laws. Credentialing bodies are always evaluating providers to ensure they and their staff are quality, ethical and moral care to each patient. These bodies want to make sure that all providers follow the law, regardless of changes, and advocate for all employees to be educated in these laws. It is the provider’s job to maintain the overall health of the society, practice patients-rights and safe practices. References American Medical Association. (1995-2013).
Retrieved from http://www. ama-assn. org American Medical Association. (1995-2013). Virtual mentor. Retrieved from http://www. ama-assn. org Running Head: PAPER 2 5 Garrett, T. M. , Baillie, H. W. , & McGeehan, J. F. (2010). Health Care Ethics: Principles and Problems (5th ed. ). Selat, M. , & Johansen, S. T. (2011). Ethical Decisions Making in Organizations: The Role of Leadership Stress. Journal of Ethics, 99(), 129-143. Stahlendorf, P. (n. d. ) Professional Ethics, Healthcare Ethics. Principals and Problems. 5th Ed.