S.I. No. 448/2014 - Dietitians Registration Board Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics Bye-law 2014.

1. Identify the problem and gather as much information as you can. Ask yourself if it is an ethical, professional, clinical or legal problem.

2. Review the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics and identify the relevant parts. Check other professional guidelines such as those of the Health Service Executive or government departments as well as any relevant legislation.

3. Discuss the issue with professional colleagues.

4. Consider asking your professional body for advice.

5. Evaluate the rights, responsibilities and welfare of everyone affected. Remember that your first obligation is to the service user.

6. Keep notes at each stage of the process.

7. Consider different solutions and decisions.

8. Evaluate and document the potential consequences of each option.

9. Choose the best solution or decision based on your professional judgement.

10. Put the solution or decision into practice, informing all the people affected.

11. Remember that you are responsible, as an autonomous practitioner, for the consequences of the solution or decision that you choose.

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GIVEN under the seal of the Dietitians Registration Board,

7 October 2014.

ELIZABETH BARNES,

Chairperson, Dietitians Registration Board.

and

NICHOLAS KENNEDY,

Member, Dietitians Registration Board.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the bye-law and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

This bye-law adopts the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics agreed by the Dietitians Registration Board.

12. Teach, supervise and assess students and other professionals

You should

a. be involved in supervising, teaching, training, appraising and assessing students in your profession and do so fairly and respectfully using agreed criteria;

b. meet your professional obligation to teach, train and mentor other healthcare professionals in specified practice areas.

13. Supervise tasks that you give to others

You must

a. acknowledge that service users have the right to assume that the person providing assessment, intervention or treatment to them has the knowledge, skills and competence to do so;

b. only delegate to a person who you believe to have the knowledge, skills and experience to carry out the task safely and effectively;

c. always continue to give adequate and appropriate supervision, if you delegate a task;

d. understand that you are accountable for any task you delegate to another practitioner and responsible for any task you delegate to a student or others;

e. understand that if a student or another practitioner is unwilling to carry out a task because they do not think they are capable of doing so safely and effectively, you must not force them to do so. If their refusal raises a disciplinary or training issue, you must deal with this separately. The service user must never be put at unnecessary risk.

You must not

ask anyone to do anything which is outside their knowledge, skills and experience unless they are supervised by an experienced practitioner.

14. Enhance the service user experience

You should

a. contribute to the development of your profession in a way that improves the service user experience;

b. be aware of the need to involve and engage other health care providers;

c. be willing to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, where available, to enhance service user care.

15. Keep accurate records

Records are all information collected, processed and held in manual, electronic or any format pertaining to the service user and service user care. Records include data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003), demographics, clinical data, images, unique identification, investigation, samples, correspondence and communications relating to the service user and their care.

You must

a. keep clear and accurate records in line with the policies and procedures set out in your workplace;

b. make sure that all records are

• complete,

• legible (if handwritten),

• identifiable as being made by you,

• dated and timed,

• prepared as soon as practicable following assessment, intervention or advice given, and

• clear and factual;

c. if you supervise students, review each student’s entries in the records as soon as practicable and record that you have done so;

d. protect information in records against loss, damage or access by anyone who is not allowed to access them;

e. make sure that if records are updated, the information that was there before is not erased or made difficult to read;

f. hold and use records according to relevant legislation.

16. Address health and safety risks

You must

a. read and understand your institution’s or department’s safety statement;

b. follow risk assessment policies and procedures to assess potential risks in the workplace and your areas of practice;

c. take any steps needed to minimise, reduce or eliminate the risks you identify;

d. inform colleagues and the authorities about the outcomes and implications of risk assessments.

17. Be an advocate for service users

You should

a. advocate on behalf of service users about safety and quality of care;

b. report to the proper authorities any concerns you have about service user safety and quality of care.

Ethics

You must always keep a high standard of ethics. Your duties are to

18. Carry out your duties in a professional and ethical way

You must

a. always behave with integrity, empathy and honesty;

b. carry out your duties and responsibilities in a professional and ethical way to protect the public;

c. make sure your practice benefits and does not cause harm to the service user or others;

d. recognise that if there is a conflict of interest between the service user and the safeguarding of children or other vulnerable people, safeguarding should take precedence;

e. if there is a conflict between this Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics and a registrant’s work environment, the registrant’s obligation is to the Code.

19. Demonstrate ethical awareness

You must

make sure you read and understand this Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics.

You must not

enter into any agreement or contract or accept any gift that might cause you to breach this Code.

You should

a. be aware of the wider need to use limited resources as efficiently and responsibly as is practicable. Whilst acknowledging your primary duty of care to the service user, you have a duty to assist in the efficient and effective use of resources and to give advice on their appropriate allocation;

b. take particular care when ethical issues arise. (Please see Appendix A for a suggested procedure for ethical decision-making.)

20. Respect the rights, needs, values, culture, vulnerability and dignity of service users

You must

a. always show, through your practice and conduct, respect for the rights and dignity of all individuals as identified under the Equal Status Act as updated from time to time, regardless of their

• gender,

• family status,

• civil status,

• age,

• disability,

• sexual orientation,

• religion,

• ethnicity, or

• membership of the Traveller Community;

b. respect service users’ needs, vulnerability, diversity and economic status.

21. Undertake research in an ethical manner

You must

a. undertake research in an ethical manner;

b. collect, protect and destroy data in line with relevant legislation;

c. make sure that the welfare of all participants is not adversely affected;

d. obtain informed consent from service users in line with clause 9 of this Code;

e. make sure you do not distort or misuse clinical or research findings;

f. make sure that a service user’s refusal to take part in research does not influence the delivery of service to that service user in any way.

You should

a. take part in research or support the research of others where possible;

b. submit research proposals to the relevant research ethics committees and get ethical approval before starting the research;

c. treat all information gathered during the research confidentially and make sure that participants cannot be identified through their data;

d. disseminate or circulate the research findings widely to further the evidence base of the profession and to improve service user assessment, examination and treatment;

e. follow accepted guidelines in scientific journals concerning intellectual property, copyright and acknowledging the work of others.

22. Make sure that any advertising is truthful, accurate and lawful

You must

make sure that any advertising is truthful, accurate, lawful and does not mislead; and

You should

provide full and accurate fee information to the service user or potential service user, in advance of agreeing to provide your service(

s

).

Appendix A — Suggested procedure for ethical decision-making

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of

10

th October

, 2014.

The Dietitians Registration Board, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by

section 31

of the

Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005

(as amended), with the approval of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, hereby makes the following bye-law