Professional ethics and ethical decision making: Rad Tech

Professional ethics and ethical decision making are fundamental responsibilities of every radiologic technologist. Each day, you'll work with patients who place their trust in you during stressful or uncertain situations. As a radiologic technologist, you're responsible for more than producing high-quality images. You're also responsible for using sound judgment, protecting patient trust, and acting in ways that reflect the values of the profession. Professional ethics help guide your decisions and responses to ethical challenges.

Now, professional ethics are essential in radiologic sciences because you’ll routinely face situations that require sound judgment, respect for patient dignity, and protection of patient trust. As a member of the healthcare team, you’ll work closely with patients who may feel anxious, vulnerable, or uncertain about their care. Professional ethics provide a framework to support safe, respectful, and compassionate patient care.

Ethics, law, and morals work together in your practice, but they’re not the same thing.

Ethics are standards of conduct established by a profession that describe the values, responsibilities, and standards expected of its members. They guide how you handle confidentiality, communicate with patients, and maintain professional boundaries. For example, you may want to reassure a worried patient by explaining what you think an image shows.

However, professional ethics require you to avoid providing interpretations or medical advice beyond your scope of practice.

Instead, you can explain the exam process and direct diagnostic questions to the radiologist or referring provider.

Radiologic technologists must follow the Code of Ethics, which are published by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, or ARRT.

On the other hand, laws are formal rules that establish standards of behavior,

such as the laws that require that patient information is kept confidential and shared only with authorized individuals.

Morals differ from ethics and laws in that they’re personal beliefs shaped by individual conscience and life experiences. For example, your morals may guide your belief that it’s especially important to show extra patience and respect when caring for older adult patients because of values you learned from your family or community.

Ethical decision making and moral reasoning are shaped by the values and judgments that guide how you respond to real situations in imaging. Ethical theories provide different ways of thinking about what makes an action right or wrong.

Two foundational ethical theories help guide ethical thinking. Consequentialism focuses on outcomes; an action is considered right if it leads to the best overall result for the patient. Non-consequentialism focuses on the action itself; certain behaviors are expected because they reflect responsibility and respect for the patient, regardless of the outcome.