Proposing an Emergency Medicine Ethical Guideline; a Qualitative Study
Archives of Academic Emergency Medicine,
Vol. 10 No. 1 (2022),
1 January 2022
,
Page e1
https://doi.org/10.22037/aaem.v10i1.1391
Abstract
Introduction: Emergency medicine physicians face major ethical challenges in their practices. Furthermore, they need to be aware of the principles of ethical analysis and clinical decision-making in order to provide quality care. This study aimed to propose professional ethics codes in the emergency medicine department.
Method: This is a qualitative study, which was performed using narrative review and expert panel, and was conducted in three steps, including: literature review and preparation of the initial draft of the ethical concepts, obtaining expert opinions on this initial draft and its validation, and finalizing main ethical components in emergency medicine. In this study, we received the opinions of an expert panel including 10 medical ethicists and 12 emergency medicine specialists using a survey form.
Results: The ethical guide to emergency medicine can be formulated in 34 key ethical concepts, 6 sub-components, and 5 main components including emergency physician-patient relationship, and emergency physicians’ relationships with other professionals, students, researchers, and community.
Conclusion: Emergency care providers need to be familiar with ethical guidelines in order to improve quality of care in emergency departments. The findings of this study suggest that a guideline on patient-physician relationship as well as the emergency physicians’ ethical obligations for other professionals, students, researchers, and community should be developed in line with ethical norms.
- Codes of ethics
- emergency medicine
- practice guideline
- physician-patient
How to Cite
References
Askitopoulou H, Singler K, Frühwald T, Weissenberger-Leduc M. Ethical Issues of Emergency Medical Care for Older Patients. In: Nickel C, Bellou A, Conroy S, editors. Geriatric Emergency Medicine. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2018. p. 369-95.
Moskop JC, Mitchell JM, Ray VG. An ethics curriculum for teaching emergency medicine residents. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 1990;19(2):187-92.
Alwaznah QT, Alabdrabalrasol EA, Alshaikhnasser RA, Shaikh AA, Alharbi AS, Alqahtani EZ. Ethics in emergency medicine. Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2019;6(2):3279-84.
Horton K, Tschudin V, Forget A. The Value of Nursing: a Literature Review. Nursing Ethics. 2007;14(6):716-40.
American College of Emergency Physicians. Code of ethics for emergency physicians. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2017;70(1):1-14.
Özcan M, Akpinar A, Birgili F, Beydilli H. Ethical challenges in emergency medical services and ethical reasoning among emergency care providers. Acta Medica Mediterranea. 2014;30(2014):241-7.
Colaco KA, Courtright A, Andreychuk S, Frolic A, Cheng J, Kam AJ. Ethics consultation in paediatric and adult emergency departments: an assessment of clinical, ethical, learning and resource needs. Journal of medical ethics. 2018;44(1):13-20.
Sandelowski M, Barroso J, Voils CI. Using qualitative metasummary to synthesize qualitative and quantitative descriptive findings. Research in nursing & health. 2007;30(1):99-111.
Marco CA, Moskop JC, Schears RM, Stankus JL, Bookman KJ, Padela AI, et al. The ethics of health care reform: impact on emergency medicine. Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. 2012;19(4):461-8.
Shojaee AA, Abolhassani Niyaraki F. Medical ethics and disasters. Medical Ethics and History of Medicine. 2011;4(6):27-38. [In Persian].
Aacharya RP, Gastmans C, Denier Y. Emergency department triage: an ethical analysis. BMC emergency medicine. 2011;11(2011):16-29.
Iserson KV. Ethical principles--emergency medicine. Emergency medicine clinics of North America. 2006;24(3):513-45.
Canadian Medical Association. CMA Code of Ethics and Professionalism Canada: Canadian Medical Association; 2018 Available from: https://policybase.cma.ca/documents/PolicyPDF/PD19-03.pdf.
Philippine Medical Association. Code of Ethics of the Philippine Medical Profession Philippine: Philippine Medical Association; Available from: https://www.philippinemedicalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/FINAL-PMA-CODEOFETHICS2008.pdf.
New Zealand Medical Association. Code of Ethics for The New Zealand Medical Profession New Zealand: New Zealand Medical Association; 2020 [Available from: https://www.nzma.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Documents/Code-of-Ethics-Redesign-2020-Version-4.pdf.
Sommers-Flanagan R. Ethical considerations in crisis and humanitarian interventions. Ethics & Behavior. 2007;17(2):187-202.
Jiménez-Herrera MF, Axelsson C. Some ethical conflicts in emergency care. Nursing Ethics. 2015;22(5):548-60.
Gurney D, Gillespie GL, McMahon MP, Kolbuk ME. Nursing Code of Ethics: Provisions and Interpretative Statements for Emergency Nurses. Journal of Emergency Nursing. 2017;43(6):497-503.
Jolaee S, Bakhshandeh B, Mohammadebrahim M, Asgarzadeh M, Vasheghanifarahani A, Shariat E, et al. Nursing code of ethics in Iran: the report of an action research. Medical Ethics and History of Medicine. 2010;3(2):45-53. [In Persian].
Izadikhah A, Changiz, Yamani N, Mirshahjafarey I. Developing codes of ethics for clinical medicine educators. Medical Ethics and History of Medicine. 2013;6(1):37-52. [In Persian].
Zafar W. Moral experience and ethical challenges in an emergency department in Pakistan: emergency physicians' perspectives. Emergency medicine journal : EMJ. 2015;32(4):263-8.
Larkin GL, Iserson K, Kassutto Z, Freas G, Delaney K, Krimm J, et al. Virtue in emergency medicine. Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. 2009;16(1):51-5.
American Medical Association. Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 2.1.1 America: American Medical Association; Available from: https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics/informed-consent.
Jafari manesh H, Ranjbaran M, Vakilian K, Tajik R, Almasi-Hashiani A. Nursing’s code of ethics: a survey of respecting the code among nursing students. Medical Ethics and History of Medicine. 2014;6(6):45-55. [In Persian].
- Abstract Viewed: 1663 times
- PDF Downloaded: 1109 times