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Dear ACPM Member,
Please help by participating in a very
important initiative of the American
College of Preventive Medicine.
The Board of Regents has appointed a
committee to develop a Code of Ethics
for the members of the College. The
Committee, chaired by Halley Faust
(Treasurer/Secretary) is composed of
Ed Feeks (aerospace medicine), Steve
Herrin (young physicians), Sara
Spinnato (resident's section), Jim
Tacci (occupational medicine), and
Hugh Tilson (public health).
The Committee is staffed by
Jennifer Edwards; we are receiving
additional assistance from Barry Pakes,
a community medicine physician and
bioethicist from the University of
Toronto.
The charge to the Committee from the
Board is to develop an ACPM Code that:
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Defines the level of professionalism
of a member in good-standing of the
College, and provides guidelines for
ethical conduct for quality care;
Instills in the public a reasonable
confidence that being a fellow or
member of ACPM has meaning in
protecting the public's and
patient's health (trust); and
Determines how to evaluate a Member
or Fellow in good standing of the
ACPM, and if and when to change the
Member's status (discipline and
liability).
Codes of ethics can also be used to
(1) help novices in the field
understand the requirements for good
practice; (2) provide frameworks for
settling disputes between demands,
such as conflicts of interest; (3) set
the public's expectations of the
breadth and limits of a profession so
that, for example, employers will
recognize the ethical norms of a
professional employee and not request
acts of employees that conflict with a
profession's ethical requirements.
The level of detail and emphasis of
Codes varies depending on the
specialty. Preventive Medicine is
unique; we have a diverse membership
that practices within the realms of
clinical and population medicine. The
guiding ethics principles of these
polar ends of medical practice are
sometimes in conflict. The challenge
for our membership and this Committee
is to reflect a reasonably complete
set of values that can accommodate
both types of practices. It is
possible that some of the
recommendations of the Committee will
require changes in the College's
bylaws.
The Code of Ethics Development Project
(CEDP) will have six broad stages:
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Review Codes from other medical
specialty and public health
societies.
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Survey the ACPM membership for views
about various ethics issues.
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Provide the membership with the
results of the survey at the
Preventive Medicine 2008 (PM08)
meeting in Austin in a Town
Hall format; get members' feedback
on the results and any other issues
they wish to bring to the
Committee's attention.
-
Write an ACPM Code of Ethics draft.
-
Present the draft Code to the
membership for comments before
Preventive Medicine 2009 (PM09) in
writing, and during PM09 in another
town hall forum.
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Based on members' feedback revise
the Code and recommend it to the
Board of Regents for adoption.
We have already completed stage 1, the
review of other codes, and have moved
on to stage 2, surveying you and your
colleagues. To
accomplish our task to stay on track
for PM08 feedback and input we need
your help.
In the next few days you
will receive an email requesting your
participation in a survey that should
take approximately 20 minutes to
complete.
We are hoping to receive as
close to 100% response as possible
from our Members, so please respond to
this upcoming request by completing
the survey as soon as possible.
Results from the survey will be
used to guide the Committee on the
most important elements in the Code,
and will be presented at the Town Hall
meeting (see below) and for
publication in relevant journals, and
in collaboration with our Canadian
public health physician colleague.
The results will be presented at the
annual Preventive Medicine 2008
conference,in Austin. We invite you
to participate in the Town Hall
meeting presentation on Friday,
February 22, from 11:30am to 1:00pm.
Following the meeting the
results also will be posted on our
website,
http://www.acpm.org/Ethics.htm.
ONCE AGAIN, WE NEED YOUR HELP IN A
TIMELY MANNER.
YOUR INPUT IS CRITICAL FOR THIS
IMPORTANT INITIATIVE.
Thank you in advance for your input
and participation. While
your completion of this survey
is vital, you are also invited to
provide any other feedback you have
regarding this Code of Ethics
Development Project at any time by
contacting any member of the
Committee, or Jennifer Edwards (jedwards@acpm.org)
at ACPM. We are
particularly interested in ethical
dilemmas you have faced in your time
as a preventive medicine physician.
Sincerely,
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