Role, role enactment and the health care practitioner

When thinking about the composition of ethics courses for health care practitioners it is necessary to consider carefully the role of the health care practitioner. An analysis of the concept of role and of the role of the health care practitioner will, the author argues, help to clarify what it is reasonable for society to expect from its health care practitioners, from the moral point of view. The author argues that the most helpful way to view the connection between a person and her/his role is one in which the individual interacts with and is formed by her/his role and in turn shapes and influences the role. The latter is evidenced by the quality of the person's role enactment. This interactive relationship between person and role has particular implications for the education of health care practitioners. The author argues that the quality of the practitioner's role enactment and moral sensitivity has a direct bearing upon patient care. Given that this is the case, emphasis should be placed on the ideas of role, role enactment and moral strategy during the education of health care practitioners.