The first nationwide study on facing and solving ethical dilemmas among healthcare professionals in Slovenia

Tough Clinical Decisions: Experiences of Polish Physicians

The paper reports results of the very first survey-based study on the prevalence, frequency and nature of ethical or other non-medical difficulties faced by Polish physicians in their everyday clinical practice. The study involved 521 physicians of various medical specialties, practicing mainly in inpatient healthcare. The study showed that the majority of Polish physicians encounter ethical and other non-medical difficulties in making clinical decisions. However, they confront such difficulties less frequently than their foreign peers. Moreover, Polish doctors indicate different circumstances as a source of the experienced problems. The difficulties most often reported relate to (i) patients (or their proxies) requests for medically non-indicated interventions; (ii) problems with communication with patients (or their proxies) due to the patients' negative attitude, unwillingness to cooperate, or aggression; and (iii) various difficulties with obtaining informed consent. Polish physicians report difficulties associated with disagreements among care givers or scarcity of resources less frequently than doctors from other countries. The study's findings provide support for the thesis that a significant portion of Polish physicians still follow a traditional, paternalistic, and hierarchical model of healthcare practice. Instead of promoting patient's empowerment, engagement, and rights, they often consider these ideas as a threat to physicians' professional authority and autonomy. The study leads to the conclusion that due to insufficient training in medical ethics, communication skills, and medical law, many Polish physicians lack the knowledge and competence necessary to adequately respond to challenges posed by modern healthcare practice.

Knowledge of and attitudes towards medical research ethics among first year doctoral students in Slovenia at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana

BACKGROUND

Research ethics and attitudes should be the main concern of those who are conducting and publishing research in medicine.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire among first year postgraduate doctoral students in Biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana during the academic year 2022/2023.

RESULTS

There were 54 out of 57 doctoral students included in the study, with a mean age (SD) of 29.7 (4.7) years, with predominantly female doctoral students, 66.7%. The number of correct answers out of 39 considered to illustrate students' knowledge of medical research ethics was 31, meaning that they gave correct answers to 80% of all the questions. The mean number (SD) of correct answers was 18.9 (5.8), which significantly differed from 31 (p < 0.001). The previous experience of the doctoral students in research was significantly correlated with their knowledge of medical research ethics, even when controlling for the age, gender and workplace of respondents.

CONCLUSION

This study clearly showed that insufficient knowledge and a poor level of attitudes exist about the main questions pertaining to medical research ethics. Overall knowledge is well below the expected positive answers. Further studies are needed to compare the knowledge of doctoral students with that of their tutors and what implications this might have for further teaching of research ethics.

What Ethical Dilemmas Do Social Workers Face in the Healthcare Area in Spain?

The purpose of the article is to identify the types of ethical dilemmas that Spanish social workers face in the healthcare arena (health centers, hospitals and mental health). A quantitative methodology was chosen using the questionnaire prepared by Eileen J. Ain. The questionnaire has been translated and adapted for Social Work in Spain. The statistical analysis shows the correlation between the different areas of intervention in Social Work and the most significant ethical dilemmas that such professionals have to solve (autonomy, confidentiality and informed consent). This article is an essential study on Social Work at the national level that emphasizes the importance of the ethics of Social Work in the Healthcare area.