Earlier in this course, occurrences were discussed. Most occurrences are inadvertent (not deliberate) and caused by human error. However, sometimes occurrences may be caused by reckless behavior. A person who behaves recklessly knows there is substantial risk associated with their actions (or is too self-centered to consider risk) but chooses to disregard the risk and act anyway.
What about the health care professional who observes reckless behavior? The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) states the following as one of its principles of ethical conduct:
"[I will] report any health care professional who engages in fraud or deception or whose deficiency in character or competence jeopardizes patient care or other personnel."10
If reckless or unethical behavior within the workplace is observed, it must be reported.
Examples of reckless behavior:
- The blood bank technologist does not follow the standard operating procedure for performing a type and screen prior to crossmatching blood products. Rather, the employee short-cuts the procedure by looking up previous records and assigning blood to the patient without performing the testing.
- A phlebotomist collects blood but does not follow the procedure of labeling the tubes in the presence of the hospital inpatient. The specimens arrive in the lab unlabeled and still in the phlebotomist's tray. The phlebotomist labels them on the hunch that the tubes belong to the patient whose name is on the leftover lab test labels.
10. American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). “Ethical guidelines for the profession.” AACC.org website. Adopted 1990. Reaffirmed with editorial changes on September 11, 2020. Accessed February 15, 2023. https://www.aacc.org/join-and-renew/ethics-guidelines
