Working in government or non-profit organization should require a higher code of ethics than in a standard for-profit profession. The largest reason for this is the fact that those that work in these sectors are likely serving the public in some fashion. This sense of service goes above and beyond that of personal profit, and extends more to the greater good of society. These jobs often do not have high salaries, do not have a lot of room for growth like a private corporate sector job would, and can often be thankless. Those who work in bureaucratic institutions or in non-profit organizations often have a sense that the work that they do will benefit future generations, and they are striving to create a better world that they may not benefit from in their lifetime.

A code of ethics for working in a government, or non-profit organization should be:

  • Trustworthy
    • Do their job honestly and with integrity without much oversight, as many of these positions tend to be self-guided, and people working must hold themselves accountable for their actions and decisions.
  • Hardworking
    • The goals that these jobs strive to accomplish are often very large, and require a lot of time and effort. Folks that are working in these sectors must be prepared to work many hours, and sometimes hours that are not standard, in order to provide services to benefit society. 
  • Impartial
    • It is important that people who work in government and non-profit organizations serve the public with as much equity and without bias. This is essential to providing the best service possible to the most people. There is no room for bias when providing a service that is meant to benefit the general public at large. 

When thinking about these three principles/values I called upon my own values in my career. I have worked in healthcare for nearly two decades, and while writing the sentences above to describe each principle I simply replaced the word “care” with the word “service”. In my profession it looks more like this:

  • Trustworthy
    • Provide care with integrity without much oversight, as patient care tends to be self-guided, and caregivers and providers must hold themselves accountable for their actions and decisions. This not only applies to patient care, but also in patient billing, patient confidentiality, and record keeping.
  • Hardworking
    • The goals of patient care are very large, and often require a lot of time and effort. Providers
    •  working in patient care must be prepared to work for many hours, and sometimes hours that are not standard, in order to provide the best patient care to the most people. 
  • Impartial
    • It is important that people who work in healthcare serve their patients with as much equity as possible, and without bias. This is essential to providing the best care possible to the vast patient population. There is no room for bias when providing patient care to the public at large. 

The code of ethics within my company certainly falls in these guidelines, and although it is much more complex, it can be boiled down to these three principles when it comes to patient care specifically. While I do work for a corporate healthcare practice, I have worked in private practice for many years prior, and I find that codes-of-ethics are less important in private healthcare than they are in corporate healthcare. I have come to believe that it is due to the amount of money that goes into providing healthcare in mass, as opposed to for only a few hundred patients. The same can be said when it comes to government institutions and non-profits. The more people that are served and impacted, and the more money that goes into the organization, the more important a code-of-ethics is in operation.