Chiropractic Principles: Professionalism and Ethics

Professionalism can be described as the relationship through which a person who has a high level of expertise and discipline in a chosen field establishes trust with those of society (1). In the chiropractic profession, this includes both the relationship between the chiropractor and the patient. Professional identity is established from the developmental process in one’s chosen field that facilitates an understanding of one’s self (1). This would allow one to explain her or his role to others within and outside of the respective discipline.

Chiropractic is considered to be a honourable profession by much of society. With such a respective title comes great privilege and responsibility. Autonomy, the power of self-government, is an important privilege a profession may possess which gives the profession a great deal of authority (2). Professionals have the power make behavioural decisions simply based on the knowledge they have previously obtained. The ability to self- regulate is also an important privilege a profession can posses (2). Within a profession, its members are responsible to create and implement a code of ethics and various regulations (2). Similarly, in order to posses such power and influence comes a significant amount of responsibility, specifically with respect to the well being of the public (2). Defining oneself as a professional also entails acting in the patient’s best interest. For instance, at the heart of patient-centred care lies the patient-physician relationship. Built on values such as trust, empathy, respect and honesty, it is the foundation on which patient-centered care is established (2). If these values are not attained between the professional (i.e. clinician) and patient, pubic trust would be difficult to sustain.

The idea of public trust in the context of health care can be viewed by the quantity of confidence that is placed in the professional by the public population (2). It is in direct measure of the competence (i.e. skill and knowledge) displayed by the healthcare professional (2). Whether the healthcare professional is working in the best interest of the patient population establishes the basis of public trust, especially in the healthcare setting. Trust relationships are therefore characterised by one party (i.e. the public population) having positive expectations regarding both the competence of the professional and that they will work in their best interest (2).

Some people commonly use the terms professionalism and ethics interchangeably, however there are certain differences that do exist. Ethics can be understood as guidelines that are imposed on a particular set of individuals (i.e. professionals in a respective filed) (2). Ethics can be considered as principles that guide a professionals behaviours and interactions with colleagues and society itself (2). Generally, ethical principles explain what one cannot do and professionalism deals with what one should do (2). Likewise, a common misconception of the terms ethics and morals can also lead to confusion. In short, morals can be described as the beliefs of an individual or group as to what is right or wrong (2). Ethics are the guiding principles, which help the individual or group to decide what is good or bad (2). For example, pregnancy abortions are legal by law and therefore medically ethical, however many individuals in society find it personally immoral to have an abortion. Ethical and moral situations are encountered on a daily basis within the healthcare professions, including chiropractic. It is crucial to understand how to address such issues and more importantly, how to prevent them in order to maintain professionalism.

References

1. Brott, PE., Myers, JE. Development of professional school counsellor identity: A grounded theory. Professional School Counseling1999; 2(5): 339-341.

2. Haldeman S. Principles and Practice of Chiropractic. United States of America: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2005.