Responsibilities of Healthcare Professionals

The health care industry encompasses a broad number of jobs, including physicians, nurses, aides, orderlies and office staff. In the health care industry, it is important to put the patient and overall health of the population first. With each type of health care career, there are responsibilities one must follow in order to provide the best possible care to patients and customers.

Being Prepared and Educated

• A health care professional may not be required by his institution to continue his education, but he should always be prepared. That means staying up-to-date on reporting procedures, new medications and updates released by government agencies such as the Center for Disease Control or the local health department. A health care professional should also be aware of all measures, instruments and medications that are available to provide the best care to his patients.

Code of Ethics

• It is the responsibility of a health care professional to follow a standard code of ethics. This can include the duty to care for a patient, no matter what kind of health insurance she has, or her religious or political views. This can also include situations in which a physician may have to put himself in harm's way in order to care for a patient, such as after a natural disaster. Physicians should have the right to chose whether or not they put themselves in that position to begin with, but once they have elected to, it is their duty to care for patients in that situation.

Personal Limits

• Health care professionals often work long hours, and they are physically and mentally strained on a daily basis. It is the responsibility of the health care worker to understand her limits and remove herself from patient care in the event she cannot provide excellent care, or if she runs the risk of harming others. For example, a physician that has been awake for more than 48 hours should recognize that she is not fit to perform a surgical procedure.

Patient Confidentiality

• A relationship between a health care worker and a patient is very personal. Health care professionals have access patient information like date of birth, address and Social Security number, as well as personal health records. It is the responsibility of a health care professional to protect a patient's confidentiality at all costs by not discussing a patient's personal information with others, not sharing information without the patient's consent or allowing patient files to get into the hands of unauthorized persons.

Hippocratic Oath

• Physicians must learn the Hippocratic Oath before graduating medical school. This oath has been around since the time of Hippocrates, and has been adjusted to modern times to suit physicians and their responsibility to care for patients. The oath states things such as a physician's responsibility to treat a patient, to show respect to patients, to seek help from others when needed and to prevent disease at all costs.