In medical school, you learn the ethics of medicine. Typically, these are courses in your preclinical years. Now that you’re in residency or fellowship or joining a practice, what ethical issues affect you in the “real world” practice of ophthalmology? Here are three tips from a Nov. 13 roundtable at AAO 2017.
- Put patient care first. If you consistently do this one thing, you will usually end up following ethical practices.
- Don’t exaggerate. One of the most common ethics violations occurs in advertising. Be careful with patient testimonials — you can’t say “the best” surgeon.
- Check out the Redmond Ethics Center. Did you know the Academy has an entire website dedicated to ethics education? Be sure to take a long look at the Michael R. Redmond, MD Professionalism and Ethics Education Center.
We learn about ethics from our parents, our mentors and our colleagues. It’s something that we practice daily. This session, however, helped me look at my own standards in a different light and rethink the ethics of informed consent, conflicts of interest and advertising.
To really understand your responsibilities as an Academy member, you’ll want to make sure you are well versed in the Academy’s Rules of Ethics. They are a mandatory (and enforceable) code of professional conduct that will help guide you and your practice as you navigate your career.