Resumen

ESPINOSA BRITO, Alfredo. Ethics in the medical visit at hospital. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2006, vol.32, n.4, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3127.

Medical visit is the main organizational teaching-assistance form of medical specialties at secondary care level. Adequate ethics in the medical visit means to observe the principles of ethics and morality during daily visit to the admitted patients. The objectives of this paper were to assess the crucial role of the person who leads the medical visit, the human and professional values that heads of medical services should cary, which are supposed to be passed on or shared with their working team, and to weigh the importance of a disciplined working environment in each ward. Regarding the medical students, the visit to the patient is the key to actively teach them so that they can correctly learn the clinical method that constitutes the scientific foundation of clinics. A common ethical mistake is to theoretically discourse, at the patient´s bedside, on some topics not related to his/her health condition, without giving a though to the possible iatrogeny, due to excessive information, that this action may bring about for the patient and his/her relatives. Twenty two ethical principles linked to medical visit at hospital were described. Since this activity is caried out within the real medical practice setting, it was concluded that all the principles of medical ethics must be observed if excellence in medical care and hospital education are expected to be achieved

Palabras clave : Medical visit at hospital; ethics.