.:
aged care
.: introduction
.: handbook
.: home
The Code of Ethics and Guide to Ethical Conduct for Residential
Aged Care (13 August 2001) apply to residential aged care services provided
under the Aged Care Act 1997. The six peak organisations in aged care
support the implementation of the Code and the Guide for a trial period.
The adoption of these protocols in no way affects the operation of the
Aged Care Act 1997 and the Principles under the Act.
One of the purposes of the Code and the Guide is to
"provide a basis which will enable individual organisation to develop
written protocols which will support and inform the ways in which care
is delivered under the Code and the Guide."
To assist organisations in that task this Handbook
of Ethical Protocols is offered as a model. As a model the Handbook may
be adopted by homes, or used as a resource for those homes to prepare
their own ethical protocols.
An ethical protocol states a shared standard of moral
conduct that an organisation or a professional group recognises and adopts
as its own. An ethical protocol differs from legal guidelines in that
the law represents society's minimal requirements for its members. An
ethical protocol is not a restatement of law but it should require adherence
to legal obligations. An ethical protocol may signify higher standards
of professional commitment than is strictly required by the law, but it
should never be lower. Ethical protocols add to the technical and legal
requirements of care. They shape the way in which those requirements are
met and foster the well being of the care recipient and the integrity
of the professionals who provide the care.
The Handbook assumes that those who deliver care are
qualified for the tasks they undertake. Accordingly the Handbook does
not repeat the technical details of how professionals do their job except
where it is necessary to make clear what constitutes best ethical practices
in accordance with the Code and the Guide.
There are occasions when an event in the delivery of
aged care raises matters of particular ethical difficulty. The protocols
can be used to guide discussion and education about practical ethical
responses to such events. Sometimes ethical decisions are implemented
by providers, by medical practitioners and other attending professionals,
by nursing staff, and by other employed carers.
These ethical protocols have been developed after extensive
consultation with aged care residents, their families, doctors, nurses
and other health practitioners and representative bodies. They establish
a particular standard of care which residents and their families have
a right to expect from homes which have adopted the Code.
The Handbook has been prepared by Southern Cross Bioethics
Institute (Adelaide, South Australia) and written by Dr John Fleming (Director
of Southern Cross Bioethics Institute), Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini (Consultant
Ethicist and Sessional Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Melbourne),
and Dr Joanne Ramadge (RN, Specialist Nurse Clinical Adviser in Aged Care).
Assistance in preparing the case studies was rendered by Jill Ashby RN,
Dip App Sci (Nursing), B Nursing.
The Handbook is an initiative of Southern Cross Homes
(Australia) Inc and its preparation has been funded by Southern Cross
Homes (Australia) Inc and the Commonwealth of Australia as represented
by the Department of Health and Aged Care.
• How to use this handbook of ethical protocols
• Introductory note for providers
• Introductory note for other employed carers
• Introductory note for nurses
• Introductory note for attending health care professionals
• Model ethical protocols for providers
• Model ethical protocols for other employed carers
• Model ethical protocol for nurses
• Model ethical protocol for attending health care professionals
