Code of Ethics Essay

Introduction The organization’s code of ethics serves as a guide to its employees when making difficult decisions. Ethics helps professionals with their actions and practices that are directed to improve the welfare of people in an ethical way (Fremgen, 2009). An organization’s culture and mission statement also help its employees make ethical decisions. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) organization is the national public health organization that is committed to protect the health and safety of our nation. CDC’s mission statement focuses on to protect the health and safety of our communities through prevention strategies and control of disease. The mission statement motivates the employees to do their best to prevent diseases and infection. The code of ethics provides guidance to ensure that CDC employees avoid situations that could violate ethics law (CDC, 2013). The organization’s mission statement and culture reflect its ethical values. Organizat ion’s Goals and how they are tied to its ethical principles. The organization’s goals are to provide protection for our nation’s health and safety. The CDC has pledged to treat all human beings with dignity, honesty, and respect. They have also pledged to provide an environment for positive personal growth and integrity. The CDC provides employment for over 17,000 employees and they work to provide a diverse work environment where everyone is treated equally, respectfully, and with human dignity. The ethical principles tied to the organizational goals are autonomy and integrity. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and everyone deserves the truth. The CDC works to provide the most truthful information regarding disease, both treatment and prevention. They are using new technology to make access to information easier, as well as research becoming more scientific and in depth. It is important to the CDC that everyone in our  nation is provided with the most up to date information. Organization’s role and importance of the ethical values The CDC organization’s role is paramount to the continued health of this nation. The CDC has responsibilities toward everyone with in this country to provide education and protection about health and disease prevention. From an ethical stand point the CDC uses the theory of utilitarianism which is basically doing the most good for the greatest number of people. With the CDC, a team of nurses, doctors and scientists do their best day in and day out to do oversee the nation’s ongoing health hazards by providing proven research and constant breakthroughs to the public. Also with the CDC being a federally funded agency under the department of health and human services, the healthcare organization must practice ethical behaviors with one which is justice â€Å"Fairness in all our actions with other people. It means that we must carefully analyze how to balance our behavior and be fair to all. Justice implies that the same rules will apply to everyone (Fremgen, 2009).† With their use of technological advancements no single person or persons are given more or less information and or protection from illnesses or disabilities. The other must be responsibility, responsibility is a sense of accountability for one’s actions. Responsibility implies dependability. A sense of responsibility can become weakened when one is faced with peer pressure. Medical professionals must be able to answer or be accountable for their actions (Fremgen, 2009).† Since this organization is federally funded it has a duty to every American to follow through with every part of their mission statement for a healthier and well safeguarded nation. â€Å"Detecting and responding to new and emerging health threats (Centers for Disease Control, 2013).† This means that as healthcare organization workers are working around the clock to prevent new illness while trying to make old illness a thing of the past. Operating on the fact that if one is human and is part of t his country then they have a right to protection from emerging health dangers. Relationship between the organization’s culture and ethical decision-making The Organizational Culture revolves around creating a work environment where employee health and safety is valued, supported and promoted through workplace health programs policies, benefits, and environmental changes (CDC, 2013). In order to achieve this goal the CDC  promotes positive health based programs both in communities and places of employment. If employers create a healthier workplace then not only will it decrease the likelihood that employees will have to miss work due to injury or illness, it will also ensure higher productivity from staff. If companies enact policies and procedures that support health it will make that company more attractive place to work for both existing employees and potential new employees. The five main categories that CDC recommends offering health information and care for employees are behavioral health, health screening, mental health, injury, and adult immunizations (CDC, 2013). Providing services for things like depression, alcohol and substance abuse, smoking cessation, and nutrition courses will help provide overall better lives for employees which will result in having more highly motivated productive workers while they are on the job.. Some ideas for promoting a healthier workplace to lower obesity would be offering lunches to employees to purchase that consist of fresh fruits, vegetables, and salads. Employers can put together exercise groups or offer reimbursement to employees who obtain gym memberships and attend at least four days a week. Importance of the organization’s ethical values supporting your ethical values It is important that the ethical values of an organization support the ethical values of its members/staff. Without the support and understanding of ethics in the workplace, situations can become incredibly hard for not only the staff but also for the patients involved. The principles and values mentioned in oaths and declarations form the basis for ethical practices in health care. â€Å"Despite differences, these works often emphasize several common value orientations or ethical principles, including beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, respect for patient autonomy, and confidentiality.† (Gabel, 2011) As a rebirth of interest in medicinal ethics is not only a positive influence for patients, but is also very crucial to all medical staff members. Research has been collected to suggest that medical professionals, particularly physicians, often have a rising burnout rate when they perceive that the ethics and values they stand by are not the same as the organization they are connected to and work with. Doctors and other medical staff personnel who are faced with overwhelming working conditions, negative influences to their own morals, are most likely attend to these situations in different methods in attempting to save  his/her personal resources. â€Å"However, overwhelming work demands or conflicts involving basic values make increased stress, diminished or depleted resources, and more likely causes burnout. (Gabel, 2011) To not accept low-paying patients because of government insurance, such as Medicaid, could be considered unethical. Even though a code of ethics can form a bas eline for unethical behavior, such behavior should be viewed as unethical in the first place. When employees share the same values they will react the same when such problems arise. It is not farfetched to assume that organizations will run smoother when its workforce agrees on what is moral behavior and what is not, at least with respect to the conduct of business. Social Responsibility for CDC in the community The social responsibilities for this organization in the community are to continually inform and educate the people of the importance in preventing the conditions that may affect them as a whole. According from the Public Health Reports, â€Å"Understanding the multilevel and overlapping nature of these epidemic, and their social and structural determinants, is the key to designing and implementing more effective prevention programs† (Dean & Fenton. 2010). An example of what this organization is socially responsible for is when they are dealing with individuals who are affected by HIV, Viral hepatitis, STIs, and TB. They are responsible for informing an individual with how to properly go about their disease or infections, they are provided the information they need that includes how to overcome being socially impaired due to their conditions, and they are also offered interventions to help them cure or proper treatments of their condition. According to the Report of the National Expert Panel from the CDC website, they have made suggestions like opening both a YMCA and health clinics in housing communities to help promote health. They also suggested that they train more community activists that can serve as advocates in the community for healthy families and also to open book banks and create walking paths. They also suggested that the CDC can help the communities by investigating social determinant of health, help develop community-based systems that help with health disparities and also to use more evidence based programs in the schools. Conclusion CDC is the nation’s leading public health agency that protects the health and safety of the members of our community. The organization uses ethical approach when serving the nation. CDC has a culture that supports and develops ethical practices, raising staff awareness, and tools to analyze ethical issues (CDC, 2013). The organization follows the policy of Code of Federal Regulations provided by U.S. Health and Human Services in any research involving human subjects. CDC has many research centers to conduct prevention research to prevent and control chronic and acute diseases. References Centers for Disease Control. (2013). Mission Statement, Public Health Ethics, Workplace Health Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov Dean, Hazel D ScD, MPH and Fenton, Kevin A MD, PhD. (2010). Public Health Reports. Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles Finegan, J. (1994). The impact of personal values on judgments of ethical behavior in the Workplace. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(9), 747. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview Fremgen, B. F. (2009). Medical law and ethics (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Gabel, S. (2011). Ethics and Values in Clinical Practice: Whom Do They Help? Mayo Clinic proceeding 86(5):421-424. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles Recommendations for future efforts in community health promotion. Report of the National expert Panel on Community Health Promotion. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/pdf/community