Practical Ethics in Health Sector

COMPETENCIES

7024.1.4 : Ethical Issues in Professional Practice
The graduate analyzes ethical dilemmas and how ethics influence appropriate decision-making processes in healthcare organizations.
INTRODUCTION

The health information management (HIM) professional serves a role in protecting the confidentiality, privacy, and security of the personal health information in a patient’s health record. An HIM professional is someone who is awarded any American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) certification (e.g., registered health information administrator [RHIA]). The HIM professional agrees to follow the principles and values of the AHIMA Code of Ethics. There is an ethical obligation in this role that spans multiple experiences within the daily work of managing health information. As a leader in the professional field, the HIM professional should work to educate others on the importance of the ethical obligation held by all who work with health data in all its forms: paper, electronic, and oral.

The following task is one that you may someday perform in your career. As a leader in the field, you will be called on to mentor those coming into the HIM profession, and you will use your experiences and educational background and the AHIMA Code of Ethics to encourage them to see the critical importance of their role and that role’s inherent responsibilities.
SCENARIO

You are an RHIA working in a rural hospital. There are 10 staff members working in the HIM department. One of your professional colleagues, also an RHIA, works for the local community college as an adjunct faculty member of the registered health information technician (RHIT) program, which is the associate’s degree level for HIM professionals.

Your colleague has asked you to create a multimedia presentation to present to a class of 20 students outlining the ethical obligations of the HIM professional at all levels. Your colleague has asked you to focus specifically on issues related to the HIM profession and to present your ideas in such a way as to stimulate discussion and questions. This presentation should be interactive and should encourage students to realize what may be ahead for them in the areas of ethical challenges specific to their future role in the field of HIM.

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

A. Create a multimedia presentation (e.g., PowerPoint, Keynote), including presenter notes and introductory and closing slides (suggested length of 12–14 slides). In your presentation, do the following:

1. Discuss three HIM-related issues that an HIM professional may encounter in the field.
   a. Discuss the ethical challenges that may occur as a result of the three HIM-related issues from part A1.
   b. Explain why each of the ethical challenges from part A1a can pose concerns in the HIM profession.
   c. Explain how HIM professionals can effectively address each of these ethical challenges from part A1a using the AHIMA Code of Ethics.
2. Develop three questions related to HIM ethics to stimulate student discussion.

B. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

C. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.