Interview with George Szasz,CM, MD

Interprofessional working requires co-operation and mutual understanding among the groups concerned, yet there are many barriers that can prevent this from happening. This paper considers the role of professional codes of ethics in this context and addresses their potential for both enhancing and compromising interprofessional working. The manifest and latent functions of codes of ethics are explored, and their potential to foster professional distinctiveness and exclusivity is identified. Comparisons are drawn between a number of codes of professional ethics and areas of common ground identified. The usefulness of the codes in terms of their moral status and the practical support they afford health care practitioners is evaluated, with particular reference to the issue of ‘whistleblowing’, and recommendations are made for refinement of the codes in order to render them more relevant to contemporay practice. In particular, it is suggested that the client should be placed firmly at the centre of the duties imposed on the professional by codes of ethics. Finally, it is argued that the role of management is crucial in facilitating this process and achieving effective interprofessional working. With agreement on the basic values and moral principles of health care, managers can develop their role to become co-ordinators of multiprofessional teams, thus minimising professional rivalries and, through adherence to the recently re-discovered public service ethos, retain a central focus on patient need.