Release Date: July 1, 2003
Expiration Date: December 31, 2005

Target Audience:
National: This course is designed for nurses and other healthcare professionals at all levels and settings in the healthcare industry.

Florida: This program is approved for physical therapists, occupational therapists, laboratory professionals, clinical social workers, mental health counselors, clinical social workers, marrige and family therapists and physical therapists in the state of Florida. It may be appropriate for these professionals in other states that accept programs approved through state boards of professional regulation or state associations.

Program Goal:
Ethical dilemmas frequently arise as healthcare providers strive to consistently care for and treat their diverse clientele. Different approaches to ethical concerns come from the perspective of virtue ethics, normative ethics, personal ethics and/or professional ethics.

Program Overview:
This course focuses on ethical theory, principles, and models for decision making that are most applicable for those who practice as healthcare professionals. Professional and personal behaviors that are congruent with our own culturally based values form the foundation that guides our own moral compass. Implications of ethical decisions are studied in relation to their legal, economic, and cultural dimensions.

Statement of Need:
There is a need to distinguish between law, morals, ethics, and etiquette; there is also an identified need for healthcare professionals to differentiate between personal and professional ethics.

Intended Outcome:
The professional can clearly identify the consequences for each option and make decisions that reflect a combined best effort to reach consensus by all parties involved.

Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

Principal Faculty:
Mary Kathleen Ebener, PhD, RN
Dr. Ebener is employed by AKH Consultant as the associate administrator of continuing educational programs. In addition, Dr. Ebener teaches courses related to nursing, health care and statistical analysis at the University of Phoenix at the Jacksonville, Florida campus. She also facilitates clinical experiences for undergraduate nursing students at St. Johns River Community College, Palatka, Florida. She holds a BSN degree from Illinois Wesleyan University; her MSN is from Andrews University, MI; and her PhD is from the University of Florida at Gainesville.

Disclosure:
Dr. Ebener discloses no significant financial relationships with pharmaceutical or medical product manufacturers.

Disclosure Declaration:
It is the policy of AKH Consultant to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, scientific rigor, and integrity in all of their continuing education activities. The faculty must disclose to the participants any significant relationships with the commercial companies whose products or devices may be mentioned in the monograph or with the commercial supporter of this continuing education activity. The information is for participant information only; it is not assumed that these relationships will have a negative impact on the content of the activity.

AKH Consultant is a private company that accepts educational grants from pharmaceutical and/or medical product manufacturers. Neither AKH Consultant, nor its owners, have significant financial holdings or products/services with pharmaceutical and/or medical product manufacturers.

This course is designed solely to provide the healthcare professional with information to assist in his/her practice and professional development. The course is researched thoroughly utilizing current literature and includes practical experiences. This course is not to be considered a diagnostic tool to replace professional advice or treatment. The course serves as a general guide to the healthcare professional, and therefore, cannot be considered as giving legal, nursing, medical, or other professional advice in specific cases. The author(s) and the publisher specifically disclaim responsibility for any adverse consequences resulting directly or indirectly from information in the course. AKH further disclaims any responsibility for undetected error, or from the reader's misunderstanding of the course. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of AKH Consultant.

Unlabeled Use Disclosure:
This activity will not include discussions of products or devices that are not currently approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or are currently investigational.

Fee:
The fee for this activity is $35.00.

Commercial Support:
This continuing education activity is not supported through educational grants from pharmaceutical or manufacturing companies.

Software Requirments:
Internet Explorer (v5.5 or greater) or Netscape (v7.2 or greater)
Adobe Acrobat
Windows 98, SE or above; OR Mac OS 10.2; 800 x 600 minimum monitor resolution (1024 x 768 recommended)

Estimated time to complete this educational activity: 3 Hours

Continuing Education Credit:

Requirements for Credit: In order to receive credit, participants must read the entire monograph, complete and submit an evaluation, and score at least 70% on the self-assessment test. A statement of credit will be issued only upon receipt of a successfully completed post-test (70% or better) and activity evaluation form.

Nursing: Click here to Continue
Continuing Nursing Education: This educational activity for 3.0 contact hours (0.3 CEUs), is provided by AKH Consultant. AKH Consultant is accredited as a provider of continuing education in nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Commission on Accreditation, and is an approved provider through the Boards of Nursing in CA #CEP12070, FL# 2851, & IA #277.

Nurse Practitioners : This educational activity for 3.0 contact hours (0.3 CEUs), is provided by AKH Inc. AKH Consultant is approved as a provider of nursing and nurse practitioner continuing education by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Provider #030803.

Physicians: Click here to Continue
Continuing Medical Education: AKH Consultant is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AKH Consultant designates this educational activity for a maximum of 3.0 hours Category 1 credit towards the AMA Physician's Recognition Awards. Each physician should claim only those hours that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.

Florida Professionals Credit

Laboratory Professionals:
This educational activity for 3.0 contact hours (0.3 CEU) is approved for Laboratory Personnel under the rules of Continuing Education by the Agency for Health Care Administration, Florida Board of Clinical Laboratory Personnel. #JP-0000346.

Clinical Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists and Mental Health Counselors:
This educational activity for 3.0 contact hours (0.3 CEU), is provided by AKH Consultant. AKH Consultant is an approved provider of continuing education programs for Florida Clinical Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Mental Health Counselors. This course is approved under the rules of Continuing Education by the Florida Department of Health, provider BAP#30.

Radiology Professionals:
This educational activity for 3.0 contact hours (0.3 CEU) is approved for Radiology Personnel under the rules of Continuing Education by the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Radiation Control, #3200539.

Occupational Therapists:
This educational activity for 3.0 contact hours (0.3 CEU), is provided by AKH Consultant. AKH Consultant is an approved provider of continuing education programs for Florida Occupational Therapists. This course is approved under the rules of Continuing Education by the Florida Department of Health, provider #29.

Florida Physical Therapists:
This educational activity for 3.0 contact hours (0.3 CEU), is provided by AKH Consultant. Florida Physical Therapy Association, Course #PE5008513 valid through 12/31/05. Accreditation of this course does not necesarily imply the FPTA supports the views of the presenter or the sponsors.

All other professionals click here to continue

Editorial Review Board:
Helen M. Holman, MS, RN, BC; Michelle Bednarzyk, ARNP, John Zapp, MD

Privacy Policy: AKH Inc. is sensitive to the issue of your privacy. Due to the nature of our business there is specific information we must obtain in order to provide you with our service.

Information such as name, address, phone number's, professional license number's and e-mail addresses is taken when processing a customer's order, responding to a request for information about our service, documenting attendance at live programs or from receipt of customer e-mail. This information is used for our own in-house marketing purposes and is not shared with or sold to any other unrelated persons or companies unless such information is required by professional licensing boards for reporting purposes.

Whether by phone, mail, e-mail, on-line registration, or rosters at live programs, you have the opportunity to decline to provide us with certain information. Keep in mind that specific information not provided may preclude us from providing some or all of the services you request.

Information obtained from visiting our web site is automatically tracked. This information is compiled for us by our partners at CECity.com and used to provide a better understanding of our customer's needs and interests when browsing our web site. This information may include the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that you arrived from or are going to next, the browser you are using and your IP address. Any personal information pertaining to the customer is subject to this Privacy Policy and the Privacy Policy of CECity.com. Upon request, a copy of CECity.com's Privacy Policy will be provided to our customers.

This privacy policy applies only to information solely obtained by AKH Inc. Any information you provide to or which is collected by third parties is subject to the privacy policy of said third party, if any. It is the responsibility of the third party to adhere to any applicable restrictions on the disclosure of your private information. AKH Inc. shall not be liable for the wrongful use or disclosure of your information by a third party. OPT-OUT: AKH Inc. may use information to notify you of educational offerings or to conduct needs assessment surveys. If you do not wish to receive such notices, you may "opt out" by clicking here.

If you have questions about this CME activity, please contact AKH Inc. at 1-800-462-8165.

Copyright:
Copyright ©AKH Consultant 2003.