Patient-Centered Practice: Aligning Professional Ethics with Patient Goals

ABSTRACT

All too often, professional ethics has not been fully in line with those issues most important to the patients served. The expectations they may have for their treatment, their personal issues, and even their desire to receive the recommended treatment must all be recognized as essential components to the care provided. In this article, the author presents three case scenarios in which the audiologist's treatment recommendations do not match what the patients are willing to accept. Ultimately, patients follow their own judgment and make their own decisions. Here suggestions are offered for guiding patients to recognize alternative views. Ultimately, it is their decisions that must be honored-even if erroneous.

KEYWORDS

Patient-centered practice - patient-centered ethics - hearing-aid rejection

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