Ethics in Human Services Professionals

Introduction

The human services professionals are a set of individuals with a motivation to excel in assisting organizations as well as people to be able to perform at a top level.  The human services professionals need to develop a vast amount of skills that help them towards understanding individuals as well as people within a particular group. Any worker within human service needs to be acquainted with knowledge in regards to how culture, human development, and the society affect human behavior and the impact of economic structures towards human behavior. The fundamental values of human services profession include honoring of cultural diversity, honesty, call for social justice and respect for the welfare and dignity of the people among other values. Human services professionals often use these standards during the professional and ethical decision-making process.

Impacts of the Human Service Professional Values Towards Service Delivery

The individuals who work in the human service professionals work by the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) standards. The body is mandated with managing the values within the human services profession. The upholding of the values within the human service profession has led to many impacts as it relates to the process of service delivery. The values have contributed towards the management of the client relationships while delivering services. The customer and working relationship have been put under ethical guidelines. The code of ethics has promoted confidentiality, respect, and recognition of the rights of the clients to informed consent as well as self-determination. This practice has brought about respect of customer’s privacy when dealing with the matters of the customer (Sessoms, 2017)

The values have promoted integrity when dealing with customers during service delivery. Integrity plays a vital role during the process of delivering services. The cost has contributed towards acting in a way which tends to abide by the moral principles. An example is an honesty in service delivery. The human service professionals can deal with other people’s emotions with care and sensitivity and always commit themselves towards working with good intentions.  The upholding of the NOHS values has dealt with the issue of discrimination in service delivery. Other positive impacts include the protection of the client’s safety in the course of the provision of services.

The NOHS values have also brought adverse effects towards the process of service delivery. Some of the negative impacts include loss of experienced human professionals due to effects of penalties and expulsion to failure to adhere to the NHOS standards. This practice has affected the process of quality service delivery as the profession continues to lose experienced professionals. The stipulated values are so stringent and hinder the professionals to go beyond certain boundaries hence not been able to solve some of the problems affecting the society. The values tend to confine the professionals within a particular code of conduct; this has hindered creativity, innovation as well as motivation towards commitment to human service delivery (NOHS, 2017)

Expectations for social responsibility by Human Service Professionals included in the Standards

There are different expectations of social responsibility that are contained within the rules that guide the human service professionals. Some of the expectations for social responsibility are outlined within the various responsibilities given to the human service professionals. This expectation includes the responsibility to the clients, society and public, colleagues, employers, self and the profession. Some of the expectations for social responsibilities include protection of the integrity, security, and safety of the records of different clients. The other expectation is adherence to the federal, state and local laws that govern the professional body. Another social responsibility expectation is to call for social justice and also work to eradicate oppression in the community

Comparison of the Human Services Values with Those of Health Care

There are differences and similarities between the professional values in both the health care sector as well as within human services. Some of the similarities include the need to safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of the patient’s information. Another similarity entails the need to act for the common good of the client. In medical it is referred to as beneficence which is a principle that calls for the willingness to do well. However individual differences do occur in regards to the values of the two professions. For example, in health care, the principle of beneficence calls for the client to be able to make his or her own decision. However, in human services, the issue of considering the entire public is essential .a customer is not given the ability to make his or her own decision since it might affect the whole society.

Impacts of Human Services and Health Care Values towards Services Delivery to Target Clientele

Various effects influence the process of delivering services for both the human services and the health care client. An example of the impact towards the course of providing care is the adoption of cultural competence within the health care system. This value has improved the quality of health care services as well as improving health care outcomes. The value of beneficence within the medical field has led to improved clinical outcomes as health practitioners engage conducting medical services to the patients with a motive to do good to the clients.  An example of how values have affected the process of service delivery in human services profession include through a creation of healthy relationships between the professionals and the clients. Another impact is the development of various measures that aim at ensuring the safety of customers during service delivery. The values also increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the provision of services to the public as the professionals consider the cultural diversity of various groups in the society (GEORGETOWN HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE, 2004)

Conclusion

Based on the research different things can be noted. The human service profession works under set ethical rules which are established by the NOHS. The values have a great impact towards service delivery like management of the client relationships, promoted confidentiality, respect, and recognition of the rights of the clients. Some of the of the expectations for social responsibility that the study found include adherence to the federal, state and local laws that govern the professional body and call for social justice and also work to eradicate oppression in the community. An example of how values have impacted the delivery of services in the health sector include the adoption of cultural competence within the health care system. This value has improved the quality of health care services as well as improving health care outcomes. The issue of adherence to values has been of great concern across major professions in the society.

References

• GEORGETOWN HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE. (2004, February 5). Cultural Competence in Health Care: Is it important for people with chronic conditions? | Health Policy Institute | Georgetown University. Retrieved from https://hpi.georgetown.edu/agingsociety/pubhtml/cultural/cultural.html
• NOHS. (2017). Ethical Standards for HS Professionals. Retrieved from http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/ethical-standards-for-hs-professionals
• Sessoms, G. (2017). Code of Ethics for Human Service Workers | Chron.com. Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/code-ethics-human-service-workers-8132.html