Research, education, ethics consultation: evaluating a Bioethics Unit in an Oncological Research Hospital

BMC Medical Ethics

Research

Ludovica De Panfilis¹  Marta Perin²  Morten Magelssen³  Giovanna Artioli⁴  Luca Ghirotto⁵  Massimo Costantini⁶  Elena Turola⁶ 

[1] Bioethics Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy;Bioethics Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy;PhD Program in Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy;Centre for Medical Ethics, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy;Qualitative Research Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy;Scientific Directorate, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy;

关键词: Ethics;    Empirical bioethics;    Clinical ethics;    Ethics support services;    Mixed-method research;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12910-022-00863-z

 received in 2022-07-04, accepted in 2022-11-21,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThis study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the activities of a Bioethics Unit (BU) 5 years since its implementation (2016–2020). The BU is a research unit providing empirical research on ethical issues related to clinical practice, clinical ethics consultation, and ethical education for health care professionals (HPS).MethodsWe performed an explanatory, sequential, mixed-method, observational study, using the subsequent qualitative data to explain the initial quantitative findings. Quantitative data were collected from an internal database and analyzed by descriptive analysis. Qualitative evaluation was performed by semi-structured interviews with 18 HPs who were differently involved in the BU’s activities and analyzed by framework analysis.ResultsQuantitative results showed an extensive increment of the number of BU research projects over the years and the number of work collaborations with other units and wards. Qualitative findings revealed four main themes, concerning: 1. the reasons for contacting the BU and the type of collaboration; 2. the role of the bioethicist; 3. the impact of BU activities on HPs, in terms of developing deeper and more mature thinking; 4. the need to extend ethics support to other settings. Overall, our results showed that performing both empirical bioethics research and more traditional clinical ethics activities at the same unit would produce an impetus to increase collaboration and spread an 'ethical culture' among local HPs.ConclusionsOur findings contribute to a growing body of literature on the models of clinical ethics support services and the role of empirical research in bioethics internationally. They also prepare the ground for the implementation of a multidisciplinary Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) that aims to support the BU’s ethics consultation service within the local context.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

【 图 表 】

Fig. 4