Health IT Code of Ethics
A Glimpse on Ethical Codes
Health informatics in the Philippines is yet an emerging discipline. By the time I graduated and passed the Nursing Licensure Examination, Nursing Informatics wasn’t part of our curriculum until 2009. As a subdiscipline, it was relatively young at that time. I remembered during our oath taking when we pledged to the country to adhere closely to ethical and professional rules as accepted by the Nursing profession.
Apparently, I didn’t practice my profession in the clinical setting. Practicality came into play and I ventured out on better jobs that offer higher remuneration. But there was no fulfillment in me until I entered the small but promising world of Health Informatics.
Though it struck me more as a blessing in disguise, it widened my opportunities and more importantly, it gave me a better grasp of what our role is in the health care industry. That having said, it is our priority to ensure that we adhere to the standards set by our profession and to abide to the Code of Ethics (COE).
Generally, we could say that it the Nursing Code of Ethics already incorporated Nursing Informatics, since it is considered universal. Since Health Informatics serves as the umbrella of all interrelated health IT disciplines, it is best if we could adopt our own Health Informatics Code of Ethics instead of having a separate one for Nursing. I know it would be a long process since we need first to establish the policies and standards.
It is difficult to compare International Medical Informatics Association’s (IMIA) Code of Ethics for Health Informatics Professionals (HIPs) and the Philippine Regulation Commission’s (PRC) Nursing Code of Ethics. Though they are interrelated, IMIA’s Ethics Code primarily focuses on Health Informatics while the other is general for the nurses.
IMIA’s Code preamble discloses it’s functions, characteristics and the rationale of having a separate code while our Nursing Code focuses on an ideal Filipino nurse, it’s
Health informatics in the Philippines is yet an emerging discipline. By the time I graduated and passed the Nursing Licensure Examination, Nursing Informatics wasn’t part of our curriculum until 2009. As a subdiscipline, it was relatively young at that time. I remembered during our oath taking when we pledged to the country to adhere closely to ethical and professional rules as accepted by the Nursing profession.
Apparently, I didn’t practice my profession in the clinical setting. Practicality came into play and I ventured out on better jobs that offer higher remuneration. But there was no fulfillment in me until I entered the small but promising world of Health Informatics.
Though it struck me more as a blessing in disguise, it widened my opportunities and more importantly, it gave me a better grasp of what our role is in the health care industry. That having said, it is our priority to ensure that we adhere to the standards set by our profession and to abide to the Code of Ethics (COE).
Generally, we could say that it the Nursing Code of Ethics already incorporated Nursing Informatics, since it is considered universal. Since Health Informatics serves as the umbrella of all interrelated health IT disciplines, it is best if we could adopt our own Health Informatics Code of Ethics instead of having a separate one for Nursing. I know it would be a long process since we need first to establish the policies and standards.
It is difficult to compare International Medical Informatics Association’s (IMIA) Code of Ethics for Health Informatics Professionals (HIPs) and the Philippine Regulation Commission’s (PRC) Nursing Code of Ethics. Though they are interrelated, IMIA’s Ethics Code primarily focuses on Health Informatics while the other is general for the nurses.
IMIA’s Code preamble discloses it’s functions, characteristics and the rationale of having a separate code while our Nursing Code focuses on an ideal Filipino nurse, it’s
References: http://www.imia-medinfo.org/new2/pubdocs/Ethics_Eng.pdf http://www.scribd.com/doc/18686923/Nursing-Code-of-Ethics