Ethics

Ethics are the principles and values that guide how we plan, deliver and improve services. Ethics involves a systematic method for deciding what to do and when to do it. Every decision, action, and attitude of ours, personally and professionally, is based on our principles and values.

By keeping our organizational values in mind when we make decisions, provide culturally safe and inclusive person centred care, and conduct our business, we strive to ensure that the values of compassion, quality, integrity and safety are upheld.

The IH Ethics Council guides employees, health professionals, students and volunteers on how to use the IH Ethics Framework to support ethical practice in all IH sites, programs, and services. The Council’s function is to promote an integrated approach to ethics quality.

The Council reports to the Senior Executive Team and includes a diverse representation from the organization including public partners. If you have any questions please contact, IHethicscouncil@interiorhealth.ca.

View the Ethics Council Terms of Reference

View the Interior Health Ethics Framework and Decision Making Guide

The Research Ethics Board provides ethical review of all research involving Interior Health people or their information to protect research participants, researchers and the organization.

For more information visit our Research Ethics Review page.

Ethics is a branch of philosophy concerned with discerning right from wrong. It involves critical thinking about how our values inform our behaviors, and giving reasons for why some choices are better than others. Clinical ethics is about making value-based decisions in the delivery of health care. Clinical ethics is focused on promoting quality health care with considerations to the values, benefits, risks and preferences of those involved, which includes persons, family and members of the care team. Clinical Ethics Committees provide support to the health-care team in identifying and finding resolution for ethical issues in clinical care. These committees do not have decision-making authority, instead offer considerations to the health-care team.

If you are facing a difficult decision for yourself or someone else, you may find this worksheet helpful.  

Public Health ethics is concerned with the collective interests of a population (the public, a group, society, or community) for the common good. Many public health activities are not carried out independently; there is often a strong relationship with municipal, provincial or federal government influence where policy and practice intersect. Ethical issues may occur in any of the core public health functions: health protection, disease and injury prevention, health promotion, health assessment and surveillance, and emergency preparedness and response.

For public health consultation contact the Office of the Medical Health Officer.

We are committed to fostering integrity in our workplace through ethical business practices.

According to AL 1600 Project Ethics Policy, quality improvement and program evaluation projects involving people or their private information must follow a process of ethical review.  This includes projects done by IH employees, students, consultants, patient and family partners, or medical staff. Using an ethical review framework and a validated process to review projects helps to ensure that we protect the people we serve, our staff, and the organization.

Visit our Project Ethics page for more information