CP 1102 Assignment #5

Dr. Draper
Angelica Lebar
Nov 23rd, 2015
Professionalism and ethics and morals and ethics are important themes to discuss
when talking about chiropractic or any health care field. The ways in which people
present himself or herself in the workforce; the ways in which they interact with patients
and colleagues and comply with legal codes of conduct are essential points of
consideration and will be looked at.
Professionalism refers to the knowledge, skills, autonomy and authority of a
social/professional group that is regulated by the state (1). In other words, it refers to the
competence or skill that is expected of a professional. A health professional claims to
have certain knowledge and skills relevant to a patients health problems (1 p. 202). This
means that a health professional undergoes lots of studying and time in order to provide
patient care and to solve patient problems related to health. This entails liability on the
health professional and therefore they need to be regulated by a body.
Ethics, specifically professional ethics refers to the codified principles and goals that
should guide interactions with the patients and providers behaviors as members of
society (1 p. 209). It serves as the framework from which difficult choices can be made,
reviewed and changed (1. P. 202). Ethics are also referred to as a moral guideline by
which people should follow and they can be categorized into metaethics, theoretical
normative ethics and applied ethics. (1). For the purpose of chiropractic, the important
category to make note of is applied ethics, which refers to moral principles directly
applied to real-life situations, especially within healthcare. In fact, a sub branch of this is
called bioethics which are ethical guidelines applied in hospital-patient scenarios.
The main difference between professionalism and ethics based on the above
descriptions are that one is more universally applied to all professions and the other is
specific/relative to the profession one is a part of. Ethics are intended to be a universal
guideline of conduct for all professionals to turn to, whether you are a doctor, teacher,
janitor etc. Causing harm to a patient is just as wrong as a teacher causing harm to a

student and this is determined by ethical guidelines that typically give us a right from
wrong imperative. Professionalism is specific to the job and to the outlined duties and
responsibilities of that job given down by a governing body. For example, being well
versed in anatomy and spinal adjustments is part of the chiropractic professional code,
whereas, a teacher doesnt have to know about these things and vice versa. A teachers
professionalism entails being on top of student learning research and being understanding
to a students individual psychology, which may differ from a plumbers professionalism.
Bottom line, ethics are universal and professionalism is relative.
Similarly, even though ethics and morals are used interchangeably and to some degree
they are alike, there is still an important difference. Ethics are intended to be universal as
stated above; it provides a right from wrong framework that every population can turn to.
Morals on the other hand are strictly individually based, that is, they refer to an
individuals own sense of right from wrong, which clearly differ from one person to the
next. For example, one chiropractor has the same patient coming for adjustments even
though they are fine because for them making money is the most important thing. On
the other hand, another chiropractor could not justify bringing that patient back and
charging them money for something they dont even need. Their moral principles differ
from each others. Ethics would clearly state which mentality is right and wrong but
morals are different.
As for my own opinion, I believe that professional identity is not what the profession
makes of you but instead, what you make of the profession. For example, within the field
of medicine, it comes down to how the people in the profession behave, how they
conduct themselves and how they treat their patients. Even though a governing body tells
doctors the expectations of how they should behave, it doesnt mean that they will or that
they have to. Doctors can still behave poorly and with inadequate discretion and this is
what will impact their reputation and how patients and the rest of the world see them.
Identity of any profession is about how the professional conducts himself or herself and
in turn, how the patient views them. A professional will not only adhere to code of ethics
given down by their governing body but they will put aside their personal moral
principles and belief systems if it is for the better of the patient.

To follow, professional privilege is the idea that not everyone is privileged to be in

your profession, not everyone was given the same skill set or abilities to be in your
professional role and therefore, there is a certain level of acknowledgement of time, study
and sacrifice that went into attaining the status of your profession. Professional privilege
simply means that only a select few make it into the profession through presumable hard
work and dedication and that they have a certain demeanor to uphold that complies with
their code of ethics. In relation to myself, once I become a chiropractor, I will realize that
not everyone makes it into this profession and therefore, the responsibility I will have to
look after patients is invaluable. This naturally transitions into public trust and it was
already mentioned above. Public trust is earned not expected and it is earned based on a
professionals ability to behave ethically and professionally. Not only is the professional
expected to be current with the latest research in their field, with duties and activities
outlined by that governing body but they are expected to follow codes of ethics. When a
professional does this, then they will have the respect and trust of the general population.
Put simply, if I treat my future patients well and with a high degree of care and
dedication then they will pass word of mouth to other potential patients and they will in
turn, treat me well and trust my opinion.

References
Cruess SR, Cruess RL. Professionalism: A contract between medicine and society.
CMAJ 2000; 162 (5):668-669