Continuing Education Workshop: Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues

A quote from the 2014 Code of Ethics of the American Counseling Association illustrates a central theme of this workshop and a guideline applicable for all health professionals:

“Professional counselors recognize that the quality of their interactions with colleagues can influence the quality of services provided to clients. They work to become knowledgeable about colleagues within and outside the field of counseling. Counselors develop positive working relationships and systems of communication with colleagues to enhance services to clients.”

This workshop is an opportunity for mental health professionals, pastoral care staff, and a variety of other health care professionals to explore obligations to colleagues and how these obligations apply in a variety of clinical settings.

In addition to the code of ethics for professional counselors quoted above, many other codes of ethics also address obligations to colleagues, including the codes for social workers, psychologists, radiation technologists, and fundraising professional among others.

The National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics, for example, has 23 statements regarding obligations to colleagues. Most are positive, that is, “social workers should.” A few are negative, indicating that social workers “should not” or social workers “should avoid.” We will review such specific statements of obligation in this and other codes.

Participants are encouraged to bring examples of obligations to colleagues from their work settings to the workshop discussion of how code guidelines regarding ethical obligations to colleagues play out in actual clinical settings.

Participants who complete this program should be able to:

1. To demonstrate how the quality of the interactions with colleagues can influence services to clients or patients
2. To identify considered moral judgments related to interactions with colleagues
3. To identify a philosophy of the helping professions and the ethical theories and principles that serve as guidelines for ethical behavior
4. To explore ethical obligations to colleagues as articulated in a number of professional codes of ethics, including social work, psychology, radiation technology
5. To apply a systematic approach to the ethical analysis of clinical cases involving obligations to colleagues
6. To gain skill in the use of a systematic approach to case analysis
7. To identify points of importance from the workshop for individual practice settings

Registration and continental breakfast
9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introductions
9:30 a.m. Moral Agency and Considered Moral Judgements Regarding Obligations to Colleagues
10:00 a.m. Philosophy of the Helping Professions and the Ethical Theories-and Principles that Serve as Guidelines for Ethical Behavior
11:00 a.m. Exploration of the Ethical Obligations to Colleagues as Articulated in Professional Codes of Ethics
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Demonstration of a Systematic Method for Case Analysis in This Workshop and in Clinical Settings
2:00 p.m. Large Group and Small Group Analysis of Ethical Issues in Cases Involving Obligations to Colleagues
3:15 p.m. Points from Workshop that Apply to Individual Clinical Settings and How They Apply
4:00 p.m. Conclusion and future steps
4:30 p.m. Adjournment

Sister Mary Louise Wessell, CSJ, MN, PhD, received her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh and her doctorate in philosophy/ethics from Georgetown University. She has been a fulltime faculty member at Carlow College and Georgetown University School of Nursing and is currently a volunteer adjunct faculty member for clinical ethics at Georgetown University Medical School and Howard University Medical School. She was the founding coordinator of a volunteer network of health care professionals that has served uninsured persons in Washington, D.C., for the past 30 years. She is currently senior program manager for a rapid re-housing program for homeless families at Catholic Charities in Washington, D.C. She also teaches ethics to staff at Catholic Charities and has lectured over several years on ethics in the medical and mental health professions.