Welcome to the Nexus of Ethics, Psychology, Morality, Philosophy and Health Care

Welcome to the nexus of ethics, psychology, morality, technology, health care, and philosophy

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Launching our site






This weblog or blog emerged from organizational change. 


The Pennsylvania Psychological Association’s (PPA) electronic bulletin board is where we shared ethical vignettes with ethics educators across the country.  We used one of four bulletin boards on PPA's web site for this task.  However, PPA revamped the web site and the bulletin boards did not survive the transition.  Therefore, the Ethics Committee needed to brainstorm on how to continue to post ethics vignettes for ethics educators.
After some research and discussion, we decided to launch a blog.  The original purpose was to share the vignettes so valuable to ethics educators.  However, by constructing a blog, we could use it for more than just vignettes.  We decided to start writing blog posts focusing on ethics and ethics education.  We also decided to post previous articles published in The Pennsylvania Psychologist.
Most importantly, we decided to open the blog up to as many people as possible.  There are no passwords to remember, only a site to bookmark. 
In addition, there is a simple way to follow this blog by signing up for the email service.  Once you sign up by email, anytime a new item is posted, you will receive an email that something new is on the site.
Our goal is to promote ethics in a way that moves beyond the ethical floor.  While ethical rules, regulations, and statutes are important, we do not plan to focus on these.  Rather, we want to promote positive ethics and psychologists striving to do their best work.  When psychologists work toward their best, they are likely incorporating many of the rules, standards, and codes of conduct into their practice.  By moving beyond the codes, psychologists are better able to provide the highest quality service by striving toward the ethical ceiling.
Finally, we hope that ethics educators will direct their students to this site.  We hope that they find the ethical vignettes and the articles on ethics to be of value.  Educators may encourage their students to participate in the vignette analysis.  Once we have more content on this site, ethics educators may use this site, our podcasts, and any other content to promote professional ethics as more than just a set of rules and codes that need to be memorized.  Ethics is alive everyday in our clinical practices, whether we engage in psychotherapy, consultation, or assessment.
We truly hope that this blog raises awareness about ethics and helps students and professionals become better psychologists.