Informed Consent

The first ethical issue that counselors have to worry about in counseling children is to be a competent counselor. It includes that the counselor must be familiar with child and adolescent development. Also, in order to be competent in counseling children, a counselor must frequently participate in trainings, specialized education, and supervised practice (Henderson & Thompson, 2011). Another ethical issue in counseling minors is privacy and confidentiality. According to the American Counseling Association (ACA) (2014) Code of Ethics, when counseling minors a counselors protect the confidentiality of information received (ACA, 2014, B.5.a). Counselors also have responsibilities with the child’s parents such as inform parents about the role of counselors and the confidential nature of the counseling relationship (ACA, 2014, B.5.b). When a counselors needs to release confidential information, he needs to seek permission from the child’s parents, legal guardians, or the appropriate third party in order to disclose the information (ACA, 2014, B.5.c). According to Henderson and Thompson (2011), children have to have their parents’ consent to see a

Working with students also means dealing with moral and ethical issues. Dealing with a students that have Suicide Ideation for example is very much an issue that becomes a serious and delicate issue for a professional school counselor as they have to notify parents when student is having suicidal or homicidal thoughts. In ASCA ethical guidelines it explains “in loco parentis doctrine, which means that educators, including school counselors, are legally standing in for parents and owe a special duty to exercise reasonable care to protect a student from harm.”(ASCA, Legal and Ethical FAQ). When a student is at school, professional school counselors as well as educators are responsible for students, therefore knowing ethical codes to follow in regards to students safety is crucial to being an effective school counselor.

The Doctor and Patient relationship aspect of Medicine has changed drastically in the last twenty years. It has evolved from paternalism (the doctor makes the decision for the patient) to shared decision making where the patient is considered an equal partner in his/her own health related decisions. Informed consent is the cornerstone for this view. When a patient or a research subject makes an autonomous decision after understanding, the risks and benefits involved with the decision is Informed consent. Complete Informed consent covers the following components: competency, disclosure, comprehension and voluntary. Competency refers to the requirement for the individual to be of legal age and be mentally competent to understand the process.

As per Beal & Lewis, 2014 Informed consent is a process of education and the correct education is a key to the ability to provide consent.

A common factor researchers are aware on to carry their study is informed consent. It can be agreed upon the remark that, further action on continuing a proposal without this step is not approved. In the play write, Informed Consent by Deborah Zoe Laufer, the Arizona State University study on the Havasupai tribe is depicted, and shows that their research found more than enough data from a sampling of the Havasupai tribe's blood. The research was said to be focused on the cause of the tribe's vast case of diabetes type two. Consent was a main issue on how the research was carried, that made the outcome of the research unethical. The character Jillian was shown to be in charge of the conduction of the study process, making missteps

The U.S. Healthcare System continues to evolve and develop delivery strategies of affordable high-quality health services to all individuals. Striving to make available superior advances in U.S. health, healthcare providers delivery options, solutions and/or treatments for the American populace.

Initially informed consent meant saying “YES” to any treatment or intervention laid out by the physician and advocated by a nurse (Ref 1). Now informed consent means being able to say “NO” and this in itself is a part of exercising ones autonomy.(Ref2)Nurses should practice with the knowledge that clients must consent to be touched ,to have treatments administered ,

Informed consent is a document that the patient must sign which allows the process of the treatment to be begin. The paper must be sign to protect the patient as well as the doctor from any legal issues. Before the heath care professional can perform treatment(s), the patient must be informed of all possible dangers and possible side effects. The basic principles that are in an informed consent document include the followings. The patient must have a clear understanding about the situation.

If I were to consult with my close friend’s daughter, the friend would want me to talk to her about the information that was discussed in the sessions. Because of the confidentiality agreement, I would not be able to discuss these things with her. This may cause the close friend to have hard feelings towards me because I would not be able to relay the information. This would be because she would be viewing me as a friend and not as a professional doing my job. While these guidelines are simple and easy to grasp, it is impossible to completely avoid dual relationships on a daily basis (Gottlieb, 1993). Therefore, I would not take a chance on conducting business with my close friend. I would much rather prefer to refer her to someone else who is also very proficient in adolescent counseling.

In some situations, counselors must clarify that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed (Herlihy and Corey, 2016). Ethically, a counselor should be sure that

Throughout health care there are many of cases dealing with religious beliefs. The one explained in the scholarly article, “When Parents Refuse a Sick Teenager the Right to Give Informed Consent: The Nurse’s Role” narrows in on a case of a 15 year old Jewish boy with acute myeloblastic leukemia. According to the Jewish law, he was labeled a man at the age of 13. This causes a difficult situation because the medical staff is not sure if to follow the Jewish laws, which would allow the boy to give informed consent, or have parents give informed consent since he is not 18. This article opens up the idea that nurses have to role to decide if the child has the capability to make medical decisions for themselves and has the capacity to understand

Steps are taken to maintain the confidentiality of data through digital signatures by the personnel and through the computer security assurance using the key coding and unlinking of the data.

According to Dictionary.com confidentiality is “the right of an individual to have personal, identifiable medical information kept private.” The definition for this term is widely known in health care, but when it is applied to adolescents many people do not understand the basics. Doctors are responsible for informing adolescent patients and their parents the privacy a minor is given according to federal and state laws, but in some cases doctors fail to do so. This results in the misunderstanding of minor’s privacy rights, which can lead to the adolescent patient not disclosing significant information, and the parents assuming they have the right to all of their child’s medical records. Because of this, it is important for adolescents and their parents to understand the nature of confidentiality in health care.

The first item is to build trust among students, parents and school staff, so that they feel comfortable coming to the counselors to address their issues or concerns. While confidentiality could be a challenge working with minors, it should be kept as much as possible. They also need to feel that when they meet with the school counselors that he or she has the individual’s best interest in mind.

Impacting the lives of children must be approached from a team perspective to address all aspects of the child’s environment and relationships including caregivers, peers, teachers and school. Behavioral Counselors must collaborate with school counselors to understand the impact that school and teachers have on the child’s life. To appreciate School Counseling a review of the specialization’s history is important. School Counselors have evolved from vocational guidance and job-orientated counseling following World War I to educational guidance following World War II due to the passing of the GI bill as veterans were given right to education counseling (Minkoff, 1985). Today School Counselors support a wide variety of needs from a wide variety of student populations including but not limited to depression, college guidance, anxiety, oppositional disorder and developmentally delayed due to change in access to mental health care being more privatized (Lockhart & Keys, 1998). Lockhart states that because of the restructuring in access to care school counselors have been pushed to handle a wider variety of needs within mental health (1998).