Occupational Therapy Ethical Dilemmas

Introduction As an occupational therapy (OT) student at the University of Scranton, I have had the privilege of seeking the upmost educational experience that has fostered my knowledge and skills to be able to contribute to the field of OT. However, throughout some of my fieldwork experiences I had the unfortunate experiences of witnessing ethical dilemmas at some of my affiliations. Specifically, I will address the ethical dilemma I observed at my first Level II fieldwork. This summer I spent 12 weeks at a skilled nursing facility located in Staten Island, New York. A major ethical dilemma that I had the ill-fated experience of witnessing was the acts of the certified physical therapists, occupational therapists, and occupational therapy assistants breaching the confidentiality of the clients of whom they worked

In my experience there are many facts that I have identified regarding my ethical dilemma. First, I am a student at this facility who is overhearing staff members, including physical therapists, other occupational therapists including my supervisor, occupational therapy assistants, and even other fieldwork students engaging in gossip about client cases that they all do not know or work with. A major fact is that each person involved in the breaching of confidentiality of their clients are not abiding by their responsibility to ensure the privacy of all residents at the facility. This leads to the fact that each member involved is risking other parties to overhear them discussing the individual cases of the clients in an open room, including the elevator and cafeteria. These unethical acts are not being brought to the awareness of the rehabilitation director, who is not present during the time confidentiality of clients are being broken. By identifying the facts, it leads to the next step, which is to look at all the parties who will have an interest in this ethical