Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
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A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Perception of Medical
Codes of Ethics
Fahey McCarthy, E. MA Ed., MA. School of Nursing and Midwifery,
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. faheyme@tcd.ie. 0035318968538
Malloy, D.C. Ph.D. Centre on Aging and Health, University of
Regina & Faculty of Kinesiology & Health Studies, University of
Regina, Canada.
Sevigny, P. M.A. Department of Psychology, University of Regina,
Canada.
Hadjistavropoulos, T., Ph.D. Centre on Aging and Health, University
of Regina & Department of Psychology, University of Regina,
Canada.
Jeyaraj, M. M.D., D.P.M. Department of Psychology, University of
Regina, Canada.
Murakami, M. M.D., Ph.D. Department of Sociology, Meijikaguin
University, Tokyo, Japan.
Paholpak, S. M.D. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine,
Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
Introduction:
The intent of ethics, in an applied context such as health care, is to
establish a set of standards that will provide a framework to modify,
regulate, and possibly enhance moral behaviour. Specifically, the
code of ethics for an organisation or profession dictates to the
membership the behaviour that is acceptable and unacceptable.
The code acts as a written and sanctioned guideline that must be
followed in order to maintain not only one’s own professional status
but also the public trust of the profession itself. It is therefore of
utmost importance to the individual and to the vocation that the
code of ethics be an effective means to moderate behaviour rather
than an organisational platitude.
Objectives: Our intent in this research was to discern how medical
codes of ethics were perceived by a sample of physicians from five
nations. Specifically, to what extent were codes used in the
decision-making behaviour of physicians and whether or not culture
(i.e., the relative strength of Hofstede’s (2001) Individualism index
(IDV) influenced the use of the professional code.
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