Implicit in Healthcare Implicit bias significantly affects how healthcare
health outcomes. Addressing implicit bias in healthcare is crucial for achieving equity in medical treatment. Strategies to combat these biases involve education and awareness programs for healthcare professionals. These programs help individuals recognize and acknowledge their biases, fostering a more empathetic and unbiased approach to patient care. Additionally, implementing policies and procedures prioritizing equitable treatment for all patients can play a pivotal role in reducing healthcare disparities. Ultimately, confronting implicit bias in healthcare is essential to creating a more just and equitable healthcare system where everyone receives fair and equal treatment regardless of their background or characteristics.
professionals perceive and make treatment decisions, ultimately resulting in disparities in health outcomes. These biases, often unconscious and unintentional, can shape behavior and produce differences in medical care along various lines, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and socioeconomic status. Healthcare disparities stemming from implicit bias can manifest in several ways. For example, a healthcare provider might unconsciously give less attention to a patient or make assumptions about their medical needs based on race, gender, or age. The unconscious assumptions can lead to delayed or inadequate care, misdiagnoses, or inappropriate treatments, all of which can adversely impact
INTRODUCTION
The standards in the code of ethics for the American Counseling Association (ACA), the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) will be detailed as they relate to ethical practice. To organize the presentation of the extensive information from regulations found in the Texas law documents and the values, principals, and standards from the association codes of ethics, these documents will be divided into sections based on the topics they address. For example, when discussing informed consent, sections of the TAC, ACA, AAMFT, and ASCA that pertain to that topic will be reviewed. Ethical issues and guidelines related to technology-assisted counseling and therapy will also be reviewed, including the potential for ethical violations inherent in distance technology methods conducted across state lines. Unlike traditional face-to-face counseling methods, technology- assisted counseling relies on multimedia modalities that provide audio and visual communication between counselor and client. Ethical issues concerning, safety, security, confidentiality, competency, effectiveness, access, ease of use, and multicultural issues of technology use will be discussed.
No set of codes or regulations can cover every possible ethical issue that counselors may face, so decision- making models for mental health practitioners will be reviewed in this course. Though the models may differ, there are common elements that serve as the basis for decisionmaking to address ethical dilemmas in counseling. Strategies for implementing shared decision-making are discussed. A review of the literature on technology-assisted counseling and therapy are included that address ethical concerns, counselor ratings, and strategies for best practice. Case studies provide additional examples of ethics application in practice. This course narrows the topic of Texas law that regulates counseling to focus on ethical practice due to the magnitude of statutes, occupational codes, acts, and definitions related to counseling practice in general. From there, it is important to look at those areas of practice that present ethical dilemmas with the goal of prevention. Preventing ethical missteps, which may lead to violations, begins with the shared values, principles, and standards of the profession starting with the ethics regulations of the Texas statutes.
TEXAS STATUTES AND REGULATORY AGENCIES
There are many references to ethical practice in Texas law related to professional conduct, prohibited actions, and the disciplinary consequences of practice that violates TAC requirements; however, there is no definition of ethics in the Texas law. TAC Rule §681.41, Subchapter B: General Ethical Requirements is detailed and can be divided into the following summarized components that inform ethical practice (Tex.reg, 2021b): ● False, misleading, exaggerated, and fraudulent claims ● Confidentiality ● Rules for payment, remuneration, solicitation, referral, and product sales to avoid personal interest conflicts ● Boundaries in client relationships to avoid prohibited sexual contact, nontherapeutic relationships, individuals who should not be included as clients, and accepting gifts, goods, and services for payment ● Rules for duty to inform in cases of potential imminent harm ● Termination of services ● Reporting unprofessional practice or activities ● Mental, physical, or medical impairment that precludes practice. ● Informed consent ● Required reporting
The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council (TBHEC), created in 2019 by the Texas 86th Legislature, is made up of four divisions including the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists, Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors, Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, and the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners (TBHEC,2019a). For this course the first two boards will be discussed. Referred to as the “Council,” the TBHEC has a regulatory role governing professional practice in behavioral health and social work providers to ensure the welfare of clients. This involves enforcing Chapter 502 of the Occupations Code that covers the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Act and Chapter 503, and the Licensed Professional Counselor Act. The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Inc. works with the state of Texas to administer the licensing exam for counselors and functions as an independent organization. The NBCC offers an additional national counseling certification (NCC) that is recognized in Texas, but that certification is not required to be a licensed professional counselor in Texas. The NBCC does support the standards of the national counseling and therapy organizations and does provide a code of ethics that contains the minimum ethical behaviors NCC must follow in
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Book Code: PCTX1325
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