How many of you spent time during your RT education considering the ethical issues you might face in your practice? Chances are your answer will depend on how long you\u2019ve been in the game.\u00a0 Currently, most RT educational programs provide their students with at least some opportunity to discuss ethical issues in healthcare and how those dilemmas might be managed. But if you\u2019re like me and have been an RT for a very l-o-n-g time, you probably spent little or no time discussing ethics when you were in school. I personally don\u2019t remember it being mentioned even once. I imagine it was simply assumed that RT\u2019s don\u2019t face ethical issues in the same way as say physicians or nurses do. Every day, in every health care organization, RTs face numerous ethical challenges \u2013 some that they (veterans and rookies alike) are ill prepared to deal with.<\/p>\r\n
What I have observed both from clinical practice and from a regulatory perspective is that newer and more seasoned RTs tend to experience different ethical predicaments. Let\u2019s say you are the new grad and you observe a patient being pressured into undergoing a treatment plan that they clearly don\u2019t want.\u00a0 Or perhaps you feel that, in order to keep your job, you need to do things that are not necessarily in the best interest of your patients.\u00a0 You know in your gut that you should speak up, but that\u2019s easier said than done when you are still trying to get your feet underneath you or don\u2019t have any other immediate employment opportunities.\u00a0 And so you stand by, say nothing and let it happen.<\/p>\r\n
Most RTs who have been practising for a period of time usually have no problem speaking their mind; however, they can find themselves falling down very different ethical holes.\u00a0 Too many patients, not enough time and too little organizational support and over time it can seem like ethics is something they only have time think about \u00a0when everything else gets done \u2013 or maybe they feel it\u2019s someone else\u2019s job.<\/p>\r\n
RTs work at the leading edge of technology that can keep people alive \u2013 even beyond what they may feel is in the patient\u2019s best interest. And yet these ethical considerations remain the elephant in the room. \u00a0Unfortunately, failing to recognize the role that ethics plays in RT practice can result in disengagement, demoralization in some cases suboptimal patient care \u2013 and ultimately – burn out. \u00a0We need to have an ongoing and open conversation about the ethical issues that all RTs face, the moral distress these issues can cause and the impact it can have on patient care.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How many of you spent time during your RT education considering the ethical issues you might face in your practice? Chances are your answer will depend on how long you\u2019ve been in the game.\u00a0 Currently, most RT educational programs provide their students with at least some opportunity to discuss ethical issues in healthcare and how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-members-blog","category-practice-blog","category-students-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n