Course:DHYG400/Group A
Hi Group A!
Please add your interview information under your name.
Catherine;
Ethics within your profession
1-What is your profession and what is your position in this profession…title?
I work in the financial field – securities investment in particular. My official title is Investment Assistant but my actual position is much more. I have earned my Canadian Securities licence which allows me to trade on the stock exchange, place orders for customers, open their accounts and basically take care of their financial needs – my limitations are that I am not permitted to give financial advice – this would entail passing another conformity course.
2-What is your scope of practice. meaning what are your professional job duties/parameters( what are you allowed to do)?
See question 1
3-What or who is your governing body…meaning who polices your profession. an association? a corporation?
The investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all dealer members and trading activity in Canada. Mind you, each province regulates securities activities within its own borders. A little closer to home, we have the Autorité des marchés financiers (Financial Services Authority). Their job is to administer the regulatory framework surrounding Quebec’s financial sectors.
4- How is your profession monitored in terms of maintaining a licence to practice?
Every dealer member that buys or sells securities must first obtain the Canadian Securities licence which permits them to trade financial instruments on the market. These people must also be registered with the Administrator in the province in which the securities are being traded, not just the province where they work or reside. (Earl Jones scenario) The conformity department where I work is extremely strict on assuring that enough “refresher course” credits are earned each year in order to keep our financial knowledge top notch. If you do not obtain the necessary amount of credits in each category, your licence to trade can and will be suspended. You could lose your position at your present employer as well as with any other financial institution.
5- In your profession what would you consider an ethical dilemma to be?
I believe an ethical dilemma is having to decide what is right and who is really going to benefit from the actions taken. Ex: My sister owns a company. She has decided to go public with shares of her company. She has given me all the details of the public offering and has asked me to promote her shares before they are official. If I were a registered and fully licensed investment advisor, I would be able to offer these shares to my clients but, ethically, I must disclose the fact that the owner of the company is my sister. If I chose not to give out this very pertinent detail, I would be opening myself up for serious legal problems in the future if for some reason this case were to go to court. The judge would almost automatically side with my client. Who is truly benefiting from my advice would be the question.
Another example: I see the price of a stock dropping dramatically. I should try to reach my client to suggest he sell right away. I decide to sell stock my own personal stock right away to avoid any further loss in my account. Technically, there is nothing wrong with what I did but, the regulatory administrators see it such that in the amount of time I took to concentrate on my own personal account, I could have reached a different client and avoid him from taking the loss. I am not allowed to pass a personal trade before my clients. In my business, the client ALWAYS comes first. They are the priority – again, you could lose your licence for trades like these.
6- In your day to day, what would an ethical dilemma be and how do you deal with it?
See question #5 for examples. Thankfully, I do not have to deal with very many ethical dilemmas on a day to day basis. Our conformity department as well as the IIROC keep our business pretty black and white. If you want to play the game and keep your job, you must play by the rules. If a situation did come up, I would immediately speak with my superior who would forward my concerns to the conformity department and it would be handled very professionally to avoid any repercussions in the future.
7-What would you consider a “violation” to be? In terms of ones rights(the clients/yours)
I believe a violation would be not respecting the Know Your Client rules. These are specific rules in my industry that requires you have a clear knowledge of your clients present situation and future possibilities. You have to know if they are married, divorced, have children or planning, working full time with back up pension or not… all the intricate information that can paint a portrait of the risk tolerance a person might have. You have to ask the right questions to make sure you know how to serve each individual client.
At the end of the day, the goal is that the client can sleep soundly knowing you are taking care of their present and future financial needs.
8-How do you recognize distress experienced by your client?
How would you deal with this situation?
Over the last 12 months, we saw some pretty impressive market downturns. These kinds of market corrections had not been seen since the world wars and even then, they were not as bad as we just lived through. The clients are not comforted in knowing their portfolios lived through part of history. They want to see the numbers rising! We recognize distress in the voices of our clients as they phone and ask us to reassure them that it will turn around. Nobody has that elusive crystal ball, we are not sure how it will all turn out but… a professional, educated financial advisor will have the know how to calm the upset client and will know where to find proof that historically the markets always come back. This advisor will have already proven himself in the eyes of the client and formed a trust bond that will calm the client. As it turns out, the markets are coming back and we are now experiencing quite the opposite of distress in the voices of our clients. The fact that their portfolio made it through the worst of it only strengthens the trust bond for future waves.
Paula
INTERVIEW WITH CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT (CA) Conducted on Oct 17, 2009 Conducted by Paula, Group A
What guides your ethical decision-making process? Do you follow a professional Code of Ethics, and if so who published this document?
•Yes, I do follow a national Code of Ethics published by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). •I practice in the field of auditing so I follow the “Generally Accepted Auditing Standards” •There is also another professional code specifically for accounting, “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles”
What are some of the Fundamental Principles in your Code of Ethics?
•Confidentiality- very important in my field of work. CA’s are exposed to a lot of the client’s personal and private information. We are responsible for maintaining confidentiality while performing professional services to them. We must also sign a confidentiality agreement. Confidentiality is stressed by managers and supervisors at our company.
•Objectivity- fair, non-discriminatory services, avoidance of Conflict of Interest which has potential to influence objectivity
•Integrity- straight forward and honest in performing our services
•Professional Behaviour- refrain from any conduct which might bring discredit to the profession
•Technical Standards- maintain the current standards to perform your professional duties
•Competence and Due Care
•Independence is a very important aspect of our profession. We must avoid conflicts of interest in our services. Some examples may be: If I had part ownership of a company I would not audit them because I would not be acting independently. There is potential for financial benefits for me if I were to be responsible for auditing my own company. I would not be practicing independently if I were to audit a company with whom I had a personal relationship with. It is important to keep personal and professional relationships separate.
Can you give another example of ethical situations a CA may encounter?
•May come across Fraud while auditing the clients. You would be torn between confidentiality, integrity, and professional behaviour. Accountants want to maintain public confidence by acting in the public’s interest, but we also have confidentiality standards that must be fulfilled.
If you encounter an ethical dilemma that you are unable to resolve on your own, what options are available to you or what courses of action could you take?
•Bring it to the attention of our managers
•Bring it to the attention of the client’s managers or the clients Auditing Committee (if they have one) to modify their situation discrepancies. This is often the case.
•Recommend the client makes a note on their financial statement informing the users of the financial statement (often accompanies that last point)
•You and your company can withdrawal from the engagement •Contact provincial institute
What are some consequences of performing unethical behaviour in your profession?
•Damage your company’s name and reputation •You could get fired from your company
•Client fires your company
•Client sues you and/or your company
•If failed to meet professional conduct, can be referred to Professional Conduct Committee of provincial institute (e.g. ICAO Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario)
•Referred to disciple committee which may result in many possibilities e.g. fined, charged, suspension, further training, supervision
•Lose your designation as a Chartered Accountant
My personal interpretation of the Interview
During the interview, the individual placed great emphasis on confidentiality and on the company’s reputation (his employer). Confidentiality agreements are not only in health care, they play a large role in the business professions as well. Regarding the company’s reputation, dental hygienists would not want to ‘ruin’ their employer’s reputation but it is important that dental hygienists prioritize the safety and values of the public first. While trying to maintain the public’s interest, dental hygienists often run into ethical dilemmas involving their employers.
The CA also uses the term ‘client’ to refer to their active collaboration with another company. I am curious to know if they have ever used the term ‘customer’. The modern use ‘client’ may be a pattern in health care, as well as business.
The national institution has created separate Codes of Ethics for different work settings of CA’s (Auditing and Accounting). DH has seem similar approaches to documents, such as the recent publications from the CDHO of the “Dental Hygiene Standards of Practice for Educators” and “Dental Hygiene Self-Initiation Standards”. (1)
These specific documents are appropriate for different working environments/registration status. However, dental hygienists can work in very diverse practice settings, it may not be ideal to publish documents specifically for “Community”, “research” and “administration” (and many more!) work settings. Instead, we should be interpret and apply our ‘general’ Standards of Practice to all of dental hygiene practices. This is similar with our Process of Care. We are able to apply it to individuals, communities, research conduction. CA’s have provincial institutions, comparable to our provincial regulatory bodies, that have the ability to discipline its members for unethical behaviour and professional misconduct. This could involve the removal of the CA designation, (similar to dental hygienists losing the RDH designation).
(1). http://www.cdho.org/Practice_StandardsOfPractice.htm
Cathy E
Ethical Issue
Manager at a Private Business School: (names have been changed)
There was an opening for a Registrar in the school where Michael is presently working. He gave several resumes too the regional manger who was going to be conducting the interviews for the position. He never disclosed that included in the resumes was the resume of his brother-in-law. According to Michael, he was going to tell the regional manager but did not disclose that information. , After the interviews took place, he was informed that his brother in-law was the candidate that would be hired. Since he had not disclosed this information before hand, Michael decided not to tell the regional manager now. His reasons for not disclosing: By not knowing that Kyle was his brother in-law Michael felt that Kyle got the job on his own without any help One possible dilemma is that Michael is his boss and what if Michael or the regional manager wants him fired?? This business school is noted for a high turn over in personal
Rad Tech.
Deanie is a rad tech at a hospital in Scarborough Ontario in the breast-imagining department. Her Mother was sent for tests for suspicious lesions found in her breast. Deanie wanted to find out the results of the test before her mother she could find her a doctor, and prepare the family ahead of time if bad news was coming. Deanie phoned the hospital where the tests were performed on her mother. She told the hospital that this patient (her mother) was coming to her hospital for a consult with a surgeon. Deanie used a Dr who was also her friend, as the name to have the report sent to at her hospital. She did not tell her Dr. Friend that she was using his name in order to get a report sent to her. She interceded the faxed report. She now had the information before her mother on the results of the test. As the test did contain bad result, Deanie felt she did the right thing in getting family together before the mother knew the results. The family was prepared the day the mother found out about the cancer. Deanie felt this support helped her mother, as all were positive
Melanie
Assignment 2: Ethical dilemma; Interview with a family doctor ‘Dr.S’ by MelanieCohen
Case 1:
A paediatrician asked DR.S to take on a 15 year old girl
as a new patient (we’ll call her Mary).
On the phone, Dr S is informed Mary’s parents are friends of
the paediatrician and that the father is a BRCA carrier
(has the breast/ovarian/prostate cancer gene).
The parents do not want their daughter to know. The paediatrician
begs Dr S to take on Mary as a patient but not to tell
her of her family history
(the father being a carrier)
The ethical dilemma:
Dr. S knows that Mary is a high risk for the cancer but Dr S ethically can not share the information (re her father) with her because:
- Didn’t get information directly from the source (from Mary), it is hearsay- no documentation of the father’s history.
- Parent’s wishes, because Mary is a minor, that she not know.
- It would not impact Mary’s health management at this time, because of her age (15)
How did it play out?
- Dr S agreed to take Mary on as a patient
- Dr S called parents of Mary to inform them of her thoughts, that she wanted to disclose the father’s medical history and wanted them to do it but would respect their wishes for the moment
- At the Mary’s first visit, Dr S took a complete health history from her- she was well informed for a 15 year old. (She knew her father had survived cancer but was unaware he was a carrier of the gene.)
- Explained to Mary, because of family history (father having had cancer), she is at a higher risk and as she ages DR S will be monitoring her for certain things
- Made sure to schedule regular follow up appointments/visits.
- Continues yearly till—age 20
- Age 20, Mary comes in with a breast lump.
- At this time the Mary’s mom calls (she is not a patient) Dr S tells her, Mary is an adult now and it is in her best interest to know her family history
- Dr S recommends genetic testing without disclosure of father’s gene carrier status.
In the end, parent’s told their daughter her father is a BRCA carrier. Mary had the lump removed, it was benign, and she had genetic testing. Not a carrier
Family caused Dr S a lot of stress about situation as well as unbelievable stress for themselves.
Things to think about when an ethical dilemma arises:
Does the decision making alter patient’s health in anyway?
Case 2:
Dr S treats 4 generations of an Asian family, the grandmother, mom,
daughter and daughter’s child. Dr S didn’t know daughter
was adopted until she became pregnant with her own child.
Daughter is 40 years old and still doesn’t know she is adopted.
Does the decision making alter patient’s health in anyway? If she knows she is adopted, would this knowledge have an impact on her medical health?
No because the medical/genetic health of the biological parents is unknown (from a different country)
and the adoptive mom have no known hereditary or familial diseases. In this case,
knowing could cause psychological stress worrying about it.
Isabel
During my interview with a pharmacist I decided to focus in on patient confidentiality so that we can compare and contrast to our own profession. Pharmacists are also regulated under the Regulated Professions act 1991. They have their own regulatory body The Ontario College of Pharmacists, which they have to be a part of and have their own set of code of ethics to follow. The pharmacist I spoke to owns and operates his own pharmacy. He mentioned that the pharmacy also has to be accredited with the college.
Would you say that confidentiality is an important aspect of dealing with your patients?
Absolutely. In our profession it is essential that we always maintain confidentiality. We are not just dealing with the patient but also with a physician so we need to ensure that confidentiality is maintained from the minute they receive that prescription and the point when they leave our pharmacy with prescription in hand. So that seems pretty straight forward. A patient hands you the prescription and you can ensure their privacy is well maintained.
But what happens in a situation where a family member comes in to pick up a prescription?
This happens quite often and is a very tough situation. As pharmacists we have to use our discretion in these events. Ideally verbal or written consent must be obtained prior to filling out the prescription. There may be situations where a spouse is picking up prescriptions and the other spouse has no knowledge of it. It has happened. We have to make sure that we also document conversations with the patients if they have given permission to dispense their medications and give them to a family member.
I have worked at dental offices where they fax in prescriptions for the patient to a pharmacist. What do you do on your end to ensure confidentiality?
Faxed prescriptions are becoming more and more common. To ensure that all information is kept confidential I have located my fax machine in a cupboard. This way the patient’s information is not exposed for everyone to see. Now my next question doesn’t have to do with confidentiality but I was a bit curious.
Can you fill out medication for yourself or family members?
Well there is no rule that says we can’t. But we shouldn’t. Even if it is a much uncomplicated prescription someone else who works for you may not know that and it can lead to misunderstandings and get you in trouble with the college for no reason. Family is less of a problem in one sense, but once you fill out something for Uncle Tom he now becomes your patient. If Uncle Tom and I have a falling out on a personal level he may make false claims on a professional level. Personally I don’t fill out my own prescriptions or families. Better to play it safe.
It appears that pharmacists place the same amount of emphasis on confidentiality as registered dental hygienists do. My last question I was curious about because there is so much talk with our college now about seeing spouses as clients. Last I read about it they were leaning towards saying that we couldn’t. I had one more question for my pharmacist but I forgot to ask him because he was in a bit of a rush. So if I am able to get him on the phone today I will ask. I didn’t want to wait till later to post my interview for you guys. (Didn’t want to delay) if I get a hold of him this will be my question: When you get phone prescriptions from doctors and dentists etc. How do you ensure that the person on the other end is who they claim to be and not the patient? Ill post the answer later if I can get a hold of him.
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--CatherineMcConnell 13:35, 25 October 2009 (UTC) -DISCUSSION--
- note: the general recognition of the importance of maintaining the reputation of the profession/company/employer.(catherine M)
- note: principles of ethics=
Beneficience (CM)
Autonomy
Confidentiality
Privacy
Professionalism
Technical standards
Integrity
Objectivity