CORE

COMPETENCY
#2
Apply Social Work ethical
principles to guide profesional
practice.

PRACTICE
BEHAVIOR #2.1
Recognize and
manage
personal values
in a way that
allows
professional
values to guide
practice.

When working with a client

who may not have the same
religious values or personal
morals as I do, I must put
aside my own beliefs and
realize that its not about me.
They are the patient and the
most important piece of the
puzzle. I was able to work
with a patient who had not
only been diagnosed with
alcoholism, but had also
tested positive for marijuana.
Athough I may not necessarily
have the same beliefs when it
comes to these substances, I
had to treat him with respect,
just as I would have done any
other patient.

PRACTICE
BEHAVIOR #2.2
Make ethical decisions
by applying standards of
the National Association
of Social Workers Code of
Ethics and, as applicable,
of the International
Federation of Social
Workers/International
Association of Schools of
Social Work Ethics in
Social Work, Statement of
Principles.

One very essential part of our

code of ethics to remember,
especially when working in a
hospital is confidentiality. This is
the case because of all of the
private information that is
available for those working with
he patient. It is important to
adhere to the confidentiality
papers we signed prior to
beginning our internship and to
adhere to the guidelines
regarding HIPAA. I must also
make the ethical decision NOT
to tell any confidential patient
information to anyone around
me when I leave the hospital
campus.

PRACTICE
BEHAVIOR #2.3
Tolerate
ambiguity in
resolving
ethical
conflicts.

In order to try and prevent

ethical dilemmas from
occurring its important to
use precise language and
mean what we say. Without
this type of communication,
an ethical dilemma is sure to
happen. When telling a
patient something, it is
important to tell them exactly
what you mean and to do
what you say you are going
to do.

PRACTICE
BEHAVIOR #2.4
Apply
strategies of
ethical
reasoning to
arrive at
principled
decisions.

I must use my NASW code of ethics

and my newly gained knowledge
about certain subjects (insurance,
home heath, DME, etc.) to arrive at
ethically sound decisions, such as
whether or not a person needs certain
services. An example of this is that
one of my patients family members
stated that the patient wanted a
hospital bed. Ethically I knew that I
must talk directly to the patient to
ensure that this was the case. My
supervisor was later able to question
the patient, and this was not so. We
knew that ethically we had to go with
what the patient actually wanted, NOT
the family.