Ethics of the health practitioner in profession ethics courses of medical colleges at the University of Tabuk

Abstract EN

Health professions belong to the human and ethical professions that require practitioners to be fully aware of ethics and to take into account the patients' conditions and absolute benefit.

Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) issued the Code of Ethics of the Health Practitioner (2011) with the aim of sensitizing its target segments to their assigned tasks to achieve the health professions the best level.

Since the students of the medical and health colleges are the most important of these segments, this study aimed to: (1) identify the professional ethics included in the Code of Ethics of the Health Practitioner, (2) reveal the extent to which the profession ethics courses offered at the medical and health colleges at the University of Tabuk respond to this code of ethics, and (3) propose some procedures to provide students with these ethics.

After analyzing the content of these charters of ethics and courses, the results of the study showed that all national charters as well as international Islamic ones contain many ethics related to the health practitioner towards himself/herself, the patient, his/her profession, his/her colleagues, his/her institution, and his/her society.

However, it was found that the students of the medical and health colleges at the University of Tabuk have not studied these ethics.

Accordingly, the study proposed some procedures for teaching a course on "the Ethics of the Medical and Health Professions."