HS106 Unit 3 Professional Ethics Standards Paper Example

What the Code Says When Nobody Is Watching: A Unit 3 Professional Standards Paper on Physician Assistant and Respiratory Therapy Ethics

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

HS106: Health Science Profession and Career Planning

Unit 3 Professional Standards Paper

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The student, scenarios and workplace are composite; the codes and sources cited are real and should be read in their current versions.

Why Professional Standards Matter

A license says what a professional may do. Professional standards say how it should be done. They come from three places: the professional association's code of ethics, the certifying body's code of conduct and the accreditation standards that shape education. Codes are not laws, but licensing boards and certifying bodies use them when they investigate complaints, so a violation can cost a career. For someone leaving the military, standards also replace a familiar structure. In the Navy, the chain of command and the Uniform Code of Military Justice set expectations. In civilian practice, a code of ethics and a certifying body do much of that work.

The Physician Assistant Standards

The PA profession's association builds its ethics guidelines on four familiar principles, respecting a patient's right to choose, acting for the patient's good, avoiding harm and treating people fairly (American Academy of Physician Associates, n.d.). Those principles were set out by Beauchamp and Childress (2019) and are used widely across health professions. The PA guidelines apply them to issues such as informed consent, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, care of family members and the PA's relationship with the collaborating physician.

The certifying body adds its own code of conduct, which binds anyone who holds or seeks the PA-C credential. It requires honesty in all dealings with the commission, practice within one's competence, respect for patients and reporting of certain legal actions (National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, n.d.). Violations can lead to loss of certification, and most states require current certification for licensure.

The Respiratory Therapy Standards

The professional association for respiratory therapists publishes a statement of ethics and professional conduct that asks therapists to practice within their scope, keep their competence current through continuing education, protect patient confidentiality, refuse to take part in illegal or unethical acts, avoid conflicts of interest and report incompetent or unethical conduct by colleagues (American Association for Respiratory Care, n.d.). Its statements are shorter and more practical than the PA guidelines, reflecting a profession centered on the safe delivery of specific therapies.

The two codes share the same principles but ask different people to carry different weight: one decides the plan, the other protects it at the bedside.

Applying the Standards to a Real Situation

On a night shift last year, a patient on our ward asked me to change his oxygen from a mask back to a nasal cannula because the mask felt suffocating. His saturation on the mask was 92 percent; on the cannula an hour earlier it had been 87. The order said mask. I did not change it, explained why and called the nurse, who called the physician. The physician changed the plan to a high-flow cannula, which the patient tolerated.

Under the respiratory therapy statement, the therapist on that ward would face the same choice I did. Practicing within scope means following the order or a protocol, not the patient's preference, but the statement's emphasis on patient welfare means acting on his distress by seeking a better option. Under the PA guidelines, a PA in that situation would hold the authority to change the order and would need to weigh the patient's autonomy, his wish to remove the mask, against beneficence and nonmaleficence, the risk of a low saturation. The guidelines would expect a conversation about the risk and a plan the patient could accept.

The scenario shows how the same principle feels different depending on authority. As a corpsman and as an RT, respecting autonomy means advocating. As a PA, it means deciding.

How Codes Are Enforced

A code matters only if it can be enforced, and the two professions enforce theirs through different routes. For PAs, the certifying commission can suspend or revoke the PA-C credential for violations of its code of conduct, and because Virginia requires current certification for licensure, losing it would end practice in the state. The state board can also discipline a license directly for unprofessional conduct, which its regulations define. For respiratory therapists, the national board that issues credentials has its own disciplinary process, and the Virginia Board of Medicine can act against the license. In both professions, the most common problems that reach boards involve impairment, documentation fraud and boundary violations with patients rather than dramatic clinical errors. That pattern was a useful reminder that ethics is mostly about ordinary conduct, done consistently, on ordinary shifts.

Standards That Would Feel Most Different

Three standards stand out. First, continuing competence. Both professions require ongoing education and recertification, and in civilian practice maintaining competence is my responsibility rather than my command's. Second, reporting colleagues. Both codes expect me to report unsafe or unethical conduct, which in the military I would have taken up the chain of command; in civilian practice the route may be a manager, a compliance office or a board. Third, conflicts of interest. As a PA, gifts from drug or device companies and referrals would be part of daily life in a way they never were in the Navy, and the guidelines address them directly.

What the Standards Mean for My Choice

The standards do not favor one career. They do show that a PA carries more ethical decisions alone, since prescribing and diagnosing bring conflicts of interest, consent and autonomy questions that an RT meets less often or shares with the ordering physician. That suits the part of me that liked making decisions in the field. It also means more responsibility when the decision is wrong.

A Standard I Already Practice

One standard needs no adjustment. Both codes ask professionals to put the patient's welfare ahead of convenience, and the Hospital Corps taught that in a very direct form: the patient in front of you comes first, whatever your rank or fatigue. That principle will carry into either career unchanged, even if the rules around it differ.

Conclusion

Physician assistant and respiratory therapy standards rest on the same ethical principles but apply them to different authority. The PA guidelines address decisions about diagnosis and treatment; the respiratory therapy statement addresses safe delivery and honest practice within orders. Both require lifelong competence and reporting of unsafe practice. Applying them to a night on my ward showed me that the choice between careers is also a choice about how much ethical weight I want to carry myself.

References

American Academy of Physician Associates. (n.d.). Guidelines for ethical conduct for the PA profession. https://www.aapa.org/

American Association for Respiratory Care. (n.d.). AARC statement of ethics and professional conduct. https://www.aarc.org/

Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2019). Principles of biomedical ethics (8th ed.). Oxford University Press.

National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. (n.d.). Code of conduct for certified and certifying physician assistants. https://www.nccpa.net/