3. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
The four major ethical principles in healthcare are:
• Beneficence
• Non-maleficience
• Respect for autonomy
• Justice
4. THE FOUR ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Beneficence
Striving to do good and to do the best for every patient
The practitioner has a duty of care to every patient
Non-maleficience
Requires balancing risks and benefits of treatment and making
decisions that will optimize the benefits and minimize the risks of
harm
5. THE FOUR ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Respect for autonomy
Requires a practitioner to respect the choices and decisions that
a patient makes about his/her own health
Involves keeping the patients informed of their condition,
treatment choices and options so that decisions made are based
on pertinent facts
Justice
Includes deciding how much time is spent on a patient, how
many and what types of resources are devoted to treatment of
that patient and how this compares to the time and resources
distributed to other patients
6. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
• In addition to the four ethical principles the following ethical principles
have been included to form the ethical principles that should guide
optometric practice :
• Principles of confidentiality
• Protection of the vulnerable
• Collegiality
7. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Principles of confidentiality
Non-disclosure of patient details and health records
• To respect the privacy and preserve the dignity of each patient
8. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Protection of the vulnerable
Standing up for the rights of those who may be unable to speak
or act for themselves
Children, the frail elderly, and patients who are unable to make decisions for
themselves
Collegiality
Calls for support of colleagues and fellow practitioners and
professionals
Mutual respect & understanding for fellow optometrists, for other
professionals and for their respective roles in the health care
team
9. THE CODE OF ETHICS
HTTP://WWW.AOA.ORG/X4878.XML
It shall be the ideal, resolve, and duty of all optometrists:
TO KEEP their patients' eye, vision, and general health paramount
at all times;
TO RESPECT the rights and dignity of patients regarding their
health care decisions;
TO ADVISE their patients whenever consultation with, or referral to
another optometrist or other health professional is appropriate;
TO ENSURE confidentiality and privacy of patients' protected
health and other personal information;
TO STRIVE to ensure that all persons have access to eye, vision,
and general health care;
10. THE CODE OF ETHICS
• TO ADVANCE their professional knowledge and proficiency to
maintain and expand competence to benefit their patients;
• TO MAINTAIN their practices in accordance with professional
health care standards;
• TO PROMOTE ethical and cordial relationships with all members
of the health care community;
• TO RECOGNIZE their obligation to protect the health and welfare
of society; and
• TO CONDUCT themselves as exemplary citizens and
professionals with honesty, integrity, fairness, kindness and
compassion
11. ETHICAL DILEMMAS
• The ethical principles may appear simple to follow and
understand
• Yet for each one of them, situations may arise, that will
make it difficult to apply these principles
• These principles are essential tools for ethical
practice, but if applied too rigidly they can be
problematic
• No principle can be applied absolutely
