Ethical practice in medicine: a review

Abstract

Objective A patient with health problems seek healthcare services from healthcare professionals. Their patient-provider relationships are usually affected by roles, gifts, services, and physical contact. The major ethical healthcare practices focus on respecting patient’s freedom and basic human rights. However, there are only limited references materials issued on medical ethics and ethical medical practices. Hence, this review article tries to describe the important aspects of ethical practices in healthcare delivery. Methods Initially, idea conceptualization, planning and keyword defining were for the development of this material. The keywords were medical ethics, code of ethics, bioethics, ethical practice, quality service and healthcare ethics. Result Then, two authors independently assessed published materials using EndNote® program from PubMed (NML) and Google Scholar databases. Finally, from a total of 721 full-text articles downloaded, 34 published article meeting inclusion criteria were included in this article. Conclusion Adherence to high ethical and moral standards, responding to societal needs and reflection social contract, subordinating self-interest to the interest of others and the manifestation of the core human values are all expected from healthcare professionals. Ethical and legal dimensions of medicine are very important. Hence, providing high-quality patient care at low cost and compliance with ethical and moral standards is the most common reason for the incompliance with medical ethics. Hence, healthcare professionals are expected to have a minimum level of knowledge on ethical concepts, favorable attitude, and a minimum level of skill to comply with regulatory and ethical requirements in all situations.