Think about what you would do in the following situations andanswer the below:
1. While escorting a patient to the exam room, she asks you if her husband’s tests results are back yet. You know that the results are back, but you don’t have permission to give the results to anyone except the patient himself.
2. You notice the constant ringing of telephones in the office. You notice that the receptionist is talking on the telephone. But several times during the day, she’s involved in personal calls. In the meantime, the ringing telephones are ignored.
3. One of your patients is a friend of your mother. She’s at the doctor’s office to find out if she’s pregnant. After she leaves, her pregnancy test comes back as negative. You’ve been unable to reach her by telephone to give her the results. The next day you see her at the shopping mall with her family.
4. You realize that your neighbor is a patient at your practicum site. You see her medical record and are wondering why she always looks so tired all of the time. Her records are right there and no one is watching.
5. During your practicum, a patient mentions that he would prefer that no one other than his physician be in the room during his medical procedure. It’s a procedure you’ve never seen before and you would like to observe. The patient will be under the influence of medication and probably won’t remember what happened during the procedure.
6. You’re short on money and need some antibiotics for your child. Her prescription has run out but there is a large supply of the same drug in your site’s sample room. You notice that samples are given to patients free of charge.
7. While on your practicum, you notice that an employee has left work 15 minutes early every day for the past week. Two other employees who suspect this behavior but have not witnessed it themselves ask you to report it to the site supervisor.
Resource:
Makely, S. (2012). Professionalism in health care: A primer for career success (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall