Deciding Values in Healthcare
Deciding Values in Healthcare
Decisions are effective and enduring when they are based on clearly identified values, are made efficiently, have the resources and support to be fully implemented, and produce positive results that significantly outweigh the negatives. Decisions made with integrity are comprehensive (considering the full range of interests and values), coherent (the decision is logically grounded in the values held out to be the driving values), and transparent (willingness to be tested, questioned, and judged by others). All choices and decisions are driven by values, by what matters. Durable decisions usually follow thorough dialog, consultation, and collaboration. Contemporary business approaches to “ethics” and “integrity” often focus on avoiding wrong doing or breaking the law.
Sources of Values
We hold values that we use in making decisions. These values come from different sources. Professions, organizational culture, law, religion, social customs, family, and personal experience communicate important values.
Types of Values
Cases present themselves differently, depending on the “disciplinary lens” through which we view them. Our roles grow out of our professional, social, and personal identities and entail specific perspectives that refract according to the following types of values:
- Legal: justice, Equality, Freedom, Order.
- Scientific: Accuracy, Objectivity, Honesty, Knowledge.
- Economic: Profitability, Efficiency, Frugality, Financial Security.
- Social: National security, Cooperation, Responsibility, Loyalty.
- Aesthetic: Beauty, Creativity, Simplicity, Elegance.
- Moral: Autonomy, Respect, Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Beneficence, Truth telling, Integrity, Nonmaleficence.
