Oaklawn Homecare and Hospice will provide care that adheres to proper professional boundaries and ethical standards in development of patient and family relationships.
Each employee will recognize and accept a relationship with a patient and family based on confidentiality, and understand it is the sole responsibility of the staff member to maintain appropriate patient/family relationships.
A boundary violation occurs when an employee, consciously or unconsciously, uses the patient relationship to meet personal needs. Examples of boundary crossings can include giving or receiving a gift from a patient, picking up groceries or running errands, undue self-disclosure, giving a patient or family private phone numbers, or social contacts such as visits or phone calls outside the scope of the care plan.
Behaviors for the Prevention of Boundary Crossings:
· Staff who become personally involved with a patient or family must report this to their supervisor immediately
· Staff must disclose an existing personal or business relationship with a patient or family who is admitted for services.
· Staff must not make visits or telephone calls to patients or families outside the scope of the patient’s plan of care. Staff must not contact patients for personal reasons.
· Staff must not accept or allow their family members to accept money in any amount, or gifts or other hospitality that is valued more than $25.00.
· Staff must not give money or gifts of value (exceeding $5) or send personal greetings cards to patients, families or caregivers. Food may be accepted if unsolicited, infrequently provided, and reasonable in amount.
· Staff must not sell/purchase items, goods, or services of any kind to/from patients, families or caregivers while they are under the care of the agency.
· Staff must not perform any banking or other financial transactions, or witness or sign any forms or documents other than official agency forms.
· Staff must not impose personal religious, political, moral or ethical beliefs on patients, families or caregivers.
· Staff must not engage in flirtation or any intimate behavior that has the potential for leading to sexual misconduct.
· Staff must keep self-disclosure to a minimum, and must not give their home telephone number, address, personal cell phone number to patients, families or caregivers.
All forms of contact with a patient or family are to be documented in the medical record and should reflect a need or intervention in the plan of care.
Take steps to meet social and emotional needs outside of work. It is not therapeutic to the patient if the health care worker is seeking those needs to be met by the patient or family.
The relationship between employees and patients needs to be a professional one that is built on trust. Professional boundaries provide a secure foundation for building therapeutic relationships.