Ethics and education in health services

Abstract

The social development and the scientific/technical revolution have brought about radical changes in the concept of
medicine in Cuba. The need of being more efficient in the quality of healthcare services has prompted the setting of new
organizational models for the national healthcare system. However, there are still subjective deficiencies that negatively
affect a higher quality care. It is urgently required that medical ethics be carefully refurbished in order to face the new
controversies that developing medical technology and health policies bring to the performance of physician and health
management. According to Cuba´s conditions, there certainly exists medical ethics with a different approach. It is the
ethics of the health team as a whole where the physician is the leader but all the members are accountable to the health
organization, the society, the patient, the family and the community as well. In that way, a two-way interaction between
the health team and the rest of the community actors emerged. Furthermore, changes in the physician-patient relationship
were included. One solution to this problem would be the implementation of assistance performance protocols with
a view to raising the quality of care. The value of solidarity is the main virtue that should be learned by the physician and
the health professionals to be appplied in all professional practice actions both at domestic and international contexts.