Consulting With Integrity: Some Reflections on Team Health Care and Professional Responsibility

Abstract

The moral confusion present in health care is compounded by the number of emerging professions which are seeking their own identity and integrity as part of the health care team. The leading example of such a profession is nursing. Christine Mitchell’s essay, “Integrity in Interprofessional Relationships”, speaks well to the needs of a profession which is developing a strong sense of its own integrity and responsibility. There are additional, more recent examples, however, in which new groups of health care professionals are seeking recognition and responsibility. At my institution, for example, the roles of patient representative, risk-manager, and patient-educator have been created only within the past few years. On a national scale, these professionals are seeking recognition for themselves. As these groups develop their own sense of identity and integrity, the problems associated with the team delivery of health care will undoubtedly become magnified.