Ethical and Professional Standards in Occupational Therapy

Running head: ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Health and social care providers have the responsibility to address all aspects of their
customer’s needs without causing any trouble. These service providers are mostly referred to as
occupational therapists and occupational therapy is the only profession where service is provided
for across lifetime. The occupational therapists enable people irrespective of age or gender to
live their lives to the fullest by assisting them with health promotion and preventing any injury,
disability or illness. I also aspire to become an occupational therapist in future but the main issue
is that I am not aware of the ethical and professional codes associated with this practice. In order
to gain intensive knowledge about these standards, I must learn more about the issues and
challenges that confront this field.
I plan to focus on three key areas of development, which include gaining complete
knowledge about ethical and professional standards specific to various professions. In addition,
attending and providing services to ethnically diverse users and dealing with stress while
attending to service users and facing dilemma. I have included these three in my action plan
because I believe it is essential in this field to form a bond with the users along with taking care
of the self (See Appendix). Apart from that, developing these three key areas would largely
ensure that I meet all the standards when I enter the field as a professional practitioner. In
particular, I aim to focus on two areas of development that involve gaining knowledge of ethical
and professional standards and addressing needs of diverse users.
Initially I had minimum knowledge about the aims, responsibilities and method of service
by the occupational therapists but I was much passionate about this profession. This is the reason
why I aimed to gain all the necessary knowledge about this noble profession. Along with
different professional knowledge the most important aspect I felt was to follow the ethical
standard. Without gaining knowledge about this particular field I could never become a

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ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
resourceful and sympathetic occupational therapist. In order to address my weakness of having
limitedknowledgeabout this ethical standard of this particular occupation I needed guidance both
theoretically as well as practically. This is the reason why I had visited eminent occupational
therapists so that is can learn from them practically which will enhance my strengths by
eliminating ignorance about the ethical standards. In addition to this, I have also followed the
videos available on this topic so that I can observe all the minute details of ethical standards
associated with this profession.As the HCPC Standard of proficiency 2.2 claimswe as
occupational therapists need tounderstand the actualrequirements of the service users based on
which we will be able to serve themat their best interests all the times. This is how I have
matched the criteria of RCOT code of Ethics and Professional Conductwhichstates thatto
make reliable professional judgements suitable to my level of responsibility I need to
possesssufficient professional knowledge and skills (Rcot.co.uk 2018).
In order to match the criteria of HCPC Standard of proficiencywhich states that
theoccupational therapist must be aware of the equality, culture and diversity of the people or
community I have visited community programs of the minority communities in order to
understand different cultural practices. In this regard, my diverse friend circle helped me a lot
(Hpc-uk.org 2018). As they have different cultural and social backgrounds, I couldunderstand
socio cultural diversity and differentpractices that have directly affected their lives and works. As
an occupational therapist, I had to reach people more poignantly and in doing so, I had to
examine the causes affecting their lives by the means of inequality, exclusion, poverty and social
differences. Without gaining knowledge about these differences, I would never be able to get the
clear idea of their needs based on which I would serve them. Only doing this, I would be able to
consider how I could use the human assets both individually and with their family and

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ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
communities which is the part of RCOT code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (Rcot.co.uk
2018). through proper understanding of these criteria of the ethical standards to serve the
community more effectively I have become an efficient occupational therapist and learnt to
identify the major scopes of improvement of the minority communities. Identifyingdifferences or
gaps both culturally and socially have helped me to strengthen the process of which I am a part.
In any profession, it is very important to form and uphold certain codes of conduct that
defines the way professionals behave with end users. In the health and social care sector
especially, maintaining a high level of moral code of conduct is extremely crucial as it deals
directly with the users on daily basis. The profession requires practitioners to engage and interact
with users constantly. In addition, the users are in need for special care and understanding. The
ethical and professional standards, as mentioned in the Health and Care Professions Council
(HCPC) assure “safe and effective practice” in professions. The further mentioned in the HCPC
document that these standards are essential for safeguarding the members of the society. To a
beginner, it is difficult to comprehend the necessity of professional and ethical standards because
the practice is prominently based on emotions rather than on systems.
Occupational therapists deal with children with disability, aged people experiencing
cognitive changes, individuals who need recuperation from injuries and such others. Therefore, it
is apparent that ethical and professional standards in this field are extremely vital. While dealing
with users having mental illness particularly requires utmost care and protection that could be
achieved by following the ethical and professional standards. As Ashby et al. (2013) mention,
“mental health practice can create challenging environments for occupational therapists”. Thus,
following standards could largely assist them in dealing with such challenging environments. At