For the past few days my classmates and I have been learning about the AOTA Code of Ethics and what each of the six different standards means. Some of the regulations seem to me to be no-brainers, such as the one saying that health care providers should always refrain from doing harm to a client. Intentionally hurting another human being seems like the opposite of what you are supposed to do as an OT. Another of the codes, Autonomy, states that each individual has a right to what information of theirs is disclosed and that clinicians should refrain from posting information about clients on social media -- again, common sense. Honestly, all of the codes seem to me to be pretty cut and dry, until you come to a situation where a 16-year-old pregnant girl asks you not to tell her mother about her pregnancy. Uh oh! When reading the descriptions of each of the rules, certain themes keep emerging: respect, honesty, fairness. On the surface, these seem pretty easy ideals to follow, but who is measuring these standards? I'm not referring to the legislative side of this, but what I am asking is by whose standards are we basing something as being respectful, honest or fair? The man that mistreats women but obeys his mother's every whim may view himself as being respectful, but is he actually a respectful person? Going back to the situation with the clinician and the pregnant teenager, would keeping information about the pregnancy from the mother violate the honesty standard? If the clinician told the mother that her daughter was pregnant, honesty might be upheld, but what about fairness to the daughter? I guess my point through all of this is that there can and should be standards set in place to guide how we as practitioners conduct our services, and these standards can help facilitate the overall quality of services. Nonetheless, the underlying motivations of clinicians ought to be one inspired by the desire to help others. How can you truly provide quality services to others if all you care about is upholding standards or getting paid at the end of the week? I firmly believe our desires to refrain from disclosing personal information about clients should be because we truly want what is best for others not because we have to follow the rules in order to keep a job. If the only reason you are not intentionally hurting clients is due to required regulations in order to keep your job, then you should not be in the health care profession at all.
Today we talked about Stephen Hawking, renown scientist and lecturer, and his fight with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The incredible thing about him is that while he now is completely dependent on the help of others, he is still pursuing his passion of writing, science and speaking. While he is dependent on a tracheotomy for breathing functions and cannot actually speak, he has found ways to communicate and live life to the fullest. In fact, Assistive Technology (AT) has helped him to communicate by use of cheek movements in selecting words and phrases on a computer. Even though his AT has helped, Hawking's therapy should focus on continued effort to find the most advanced AT and adaptive equipment so that his continued loss of function will not impede his ability to pursue his desires and interests. Goals for OT involve training caregivers on how to us AT, discovering new techniques and methods to incorporate in his daily life, and helping him to f...
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