What Factors Contribute to Ethical Problems in Patient Care? A Scoping Review and Case Series of Clinical Ethics Consultations.

AbstractBackground: Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are frequently exposed to ethical problems in patient care that can affect the quality of care. Understanding risk factors for ethical problems may help practitioners to address these problems at an early stage. This study aims to provide an overview of ethical risk factors in patient care. Risk factors known from the literature and those found in clinical ethics consultation (CEC) cases are reviewed. METHODS: A scoping review of ethical risk factors in patient care and a CEC case series were conducted, analyzing the documentation (consultation reports, feedback forms, electronic medical records) of 204 CECs from 2012 to 2020 at a somatic and a psychiatric university hospital in Basel, Switzerland. RESULTS: Ninety-nine ethical risk factors were identified in nine articles, related to four risk areas: patient (41), family (12), healthcare team (29), and system (17). Eighty-seven of these risk factors were documented at least once in the CEC case series. The most prevalent risk factors in the consultations studied were patient vulnerability (100%), missing or unclear hospital ethics policy (97.1%), shift work (83.3%), lack of understanding between patient and HCP (73.5%), poor communication (66.2%), disagreement between patient and HCP about care (58.8%), and multiple care teams (53.4%). The prevalence differed significantly by medical specialty. CONCLUSIONS: There are highly prevalent ethical risk factors at all levels of clinical care that may be used to prevent ethical problems. Further empirical research is needed to analyze risk ratios and to develop specific risk profiles for different medical specialties.

Symbiosis of Technology and Ethics: Preliminary Results of an Inquiry into the Moral Dimensions in the Use of Robotic Systems in Patient Care.

The present study aims to describe ethical and social requirements for technical and robotic systems for caregiving from the perspective of users. Users are interviewed in the ReduSys project during the development phase (prospective viewpoint) and after technology testing in the clinical setting (retrospective viewpoint). The preliminary results presented here refer to the prospective viewpoint.

Epistemic (in)justice, social identity and the Black Box problem in patient care.

This manuscript draws on the moral norms arising from the nuanced accounts of epistemic (in)justice and social identity in relational autonomy to normatively assess and articulate the ethical problems associated with using AI in patient care in light of the Black Box problem. The article also describes how black-boxed AI may be used within the healthcare system. The manuscript highlights what needs to happen to align AI with the moral norms it draws on. Deeper thinking - from other backgrounds other than decolonial scholarship and relational autonomy - about the impact of AI on the human experience needs to be done to appreciate any other barriers that may exist. Future studies can take up this task.

Love Your Patient as Yourself: On Reviving the Broken Heart of American Medical Ethics.

This article presents a radical claim: American medical ethics is broken, and it needs love to be healed. Due to a unique set of cultural and economic pressures, American medical ethics has adopted a mechanistic mode of ethical reasoning epitomized by the doctrine of principlism. This mode of reasoning divorces clinicians from both their patients and themselves. This results in clinicians who can ace ethics questions on multiple-choice tests but who fail either to recognize a patient's humanity or to navigate the ethical quandaries into which they are frequently thrown. Drawing on personal experience as well as the philosophical work of Augustine of Hippo, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch, we propose a novel ethical approach grounded in a conception of neighbor love, specifically, the virtue of love understood as attention to a sufferer's humanity. We conclude with five practical recommendations for reimagining medical ethics education oriented around the virtue of love.

University Pharmacy: from the foundation to the Pandemic times of Covid-19

Abstract The University Pharmacy Program (FU), from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), was created based on the need to offer a curricular internship to students of the Undergraduate Course at the Faculty of Pharmacy. Currently, it is responsible for the care of about 200 patients/day, offering vacancies for curricular internships for students in the Pharmacy course, it has become a reference in the manipulation of many drugs neglected by the pharmaceutical industry and provides access to medicines for low-income users playing an important social function. Research is one of the pillars of FU-UFRJ and several master and doctoral students use the FU research laboratory in the development of dissertations and theses. As of 2002, the Pharmaceutical Care extension projects started to guarantee a rational and safe pharmacotherapy for the medicine users. From its beginning in 1982 until the current quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FU-UFRJ has been adapting to the new reality and continued to provide patient care services, maintaining its teaching, research, and extension activities. The FU plays a relevant social role in guaranteeing the low-income population access to special and neglected medicines, and to pharmaceutical and education services in health promotion.

Humanização nos serviços de saúde: perspectivas de profissionais atuantes na atenção primária à saúde / Humanization in health services: perspectives of professionals working in primary health care / Humanización en los servicios de salud: perspectivas de los profesionales que trabajan en atención primaria

Investigar o conhecimento dos profissionais que atuam na atenção básica sobre o atendimento humanizado. Estudo descritivo, exploratório, de abordagem qualitativa, realizado com 16 profissionais que atuam em unidade básica de saúde, realizado no mês de abril de 2022. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevista gravada, norteada pela questão: "Fale-me sobre o que você, senhor/senhora, sabe sobre humanização na assistência ao paciente. Após a conclusão das entrevistas, as mesmas foram transcritas, sendo submetidas à técnica de análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin. Da análise das entrevistas, emergiram três categorias: Impactos da realização do cuidado humanizado e de sua ausência, na qual nota-se por meio dos discursos, que o cuidado à saúde do ser humano, quando prestado de modo humanizado é considerado como maneira mais eficaz para se ter um atendimento adequado e ético nos serviços de atenção à saúde. Estratégias para fortalecer a prática da assistência humanizada, pela qual verificou-se que a assistência à saúde realizada ao ser humano de uma forma humanizada, se torna muito mais forte e eficaz. Atividade laboral como sinônimo de cuidado empático, a qual evidenciou que é preciso continuar conscientizando a todos esses profissionais, que atuam nessa área, sobre esse cuidado humanizado, ou seja, o cuidado com empatia. Assim, concluiu-se que os profissionais apresentaram conhecimento básico sobre humanização no atendimento, sobre as consequências ao paciente caso ela não ocorra e como implementá-la, com constância, em suas atividades laborais, na atenção primária à saúde.

To investigate the knowledge of professionals working in primary care about humanized care. Descriptive, exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, carried out with 16 professionals who work in a basic health unit, carried out in April 2022. Data were collected through a recorded interview, guided by the question: "Tell me about what you, sir/madam, know about humanization in patient care. After completing the interviews, they were transcribed and submitted to the content analysis technique proposed by Bardin. From the analysis of the interviews, three categories emerged: Impacts of carrying out humanized care and its absence, in which it is noted through the speeches that human health care, when provided in a humanized way, is considered the most effective way to have adequate and ethical care in health care services. Strategies to strengthen the practice of humanized care, through which it was found that health care provided to human beings in a humanized way becomes much stronger and more effective. Work activity as a synonym for empathic care, which showed that it is necessary to continue making all these professionals, who work in this area, aware of this humanized care, that is, care with empathy. Thus, it was concluded that the professionals presented basic knowledge about humanization in care, about the consequences for the patient if it does not occur and how to implement it consistently in their work activities, in primary health care.

Investigar el conocimiento de los profesionales que trabajan en atención primaria sobre la atención humanizada. Estudio descriptivo, exploratorio, de enfoque cualitativo, realizado con 16 profesionales que trabajan en la unidad básica de salud, realizado en abril de 2022. Los datos se recogieron mediante una entrevista grabada, guiada por la pregunta: "Háblame de lo que sabes sobre la humanización en la atención al paciente". Una vez finalizadas las entrevistas, se transcribieron y se sometieron a la técnica de análisis de contenido propuesta por Bardin. Del análisis de las entrevistas surgieron tres categorías: Impactos de la implementación de la atención humanizada y su ausencia, en la que se observa a través de los discursos, que la atención a la salud del ser humano, cuando se brinda de manera humanizada, se considera la forma más efectiva de tener una atención adecuada y ética en los servicios de salud. Estrategias para fortalecer la práctica de la atención humanizada, mediante las cuales se verificó que la atención a la salud brindada al ser humano de manera humanizada, se hace mucho más fuerte y efectiva. La actividad laboral como sinónimo de atención empática, lo que demostró que es necesario seguir concienciando a todos estos profesionales que trabajan en este ámbito sobre la atención humanizada, es decir, la atención con empatía. Así, se concluyó que los profesionales tenían conocimientos básicos sobre la humanización en la atención sanitaria, sobre las consecuencias para el paciente si ésta no se produce y sobre cómo implementarla con constancia en su actividad laboral en la atención primaria.

Considerações éticas relacionadas às condutas terapêuticas de pacientes terminais / Ethical considerations related to the therapeutic management of terminally ill patients / Consideraciones éticas relacionadas con la conducta terapéutica de los pacientes terminales

Objetivo: Conhecer as considerações éticas relacionadas às condutas terapêuticas das equipes de saúde frente aos pacientes terminais. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo exploratório de natureza qualitativa. Realizado no período de dezembro de 2020, através do acesso ao Banco de Teses e Dissertações da CAPES, considerando que este, coordena o Sistema de Pós-graduação brasileiro. Resultados: Foram identificadas seis classes semânticas, de modo que a mesma formulou a seguinte distribuição de contextos temáticos: Classe 1 Paciente terminal; Classe 2 Condutas médicas; Classe 3 Manejo terapêutico; Classe 4 Protocolos clínicos e aspectos metodológicos dos estudos; Classe 5 Dependências metodológicas e Classe 6 Suporte clínico na terminalidade Dependências metodológicas. Discussão: A morte e a vida tornam-se um impasse enfrentado pelos profissionais de saúde, pois existem fatores decisivos na vida de cada paciente em situação terminal com nenhuma esperança de cura, envolvendo assim questões éticas. Conclusão: Portanto, torna-se necessário que as instâncias de saúde assegurem protocolos, treinamentos e aporte psicológicos para esses profissionais que atuam diretamente com pacientes em situações terminais de vida, para que possa haver uma ressignificação do processo de cuidado com pacientes e segurança na tomada de decisões por parte dos profissionais de saúde, e assim possa preservar a ética.

Objective: To know the ethical considerations related to the therapeutic behavior of health teams towards terminal patients. Methodology: This is an exploratory study of a qualitative nature. Carried out in January 2020, through access to the CAPES Theses and Dissertations Bank, considering that it coordinates the Brazilian Postgraduate System. Results: Six semantic classes were identified, so that it formulated the following distribution of thematic contexts: Class 1 Terminal patient; Class 2 Medical conducts; Class 3 Therapeutic management; Class 4 Clinical protocols and methodological aspects of the studies; Class 5 Methodological dependencies and Class 6 Clinical support in terminality Methodological dependencies. Discusson: Death and life become an impasse faced by health professionals, as decisive there are factors in the life of each patient in a terminal situation with no hope of cure, thus involving ethical issues. Conclusion: Therefore, it is necessary that health institutions ensure protocols, training and psychological support for these professionals who work directly with patients in terminal situations, so that there can be a new meaning for the process of patient care and safety in decision-making by health professionals, and thus can preserve ethics.

Objetivo: Conocer las consideraciones éticas relacionadas con las conductas terapéuticas de los equipos de salud frente a los pacientes terminales. Metodología: Se trata de un estudio exploratorio de carácter cualitativo. Realizado en el período de diciembre de 2020, a través del acceso al Banco de Tesis y Disertaciones de la CAPES, considerando que este, coordina el Sistema de Pós-graduación brasileño. Resultados: Se identificaron seis clases semánticas, por lo que se formuló la siguiente distribución de contextos temáticos: Clase 1 Paciente terminal; Clase 2 Conductas médicas; Clase 3 Manejo terapéutico; Clase 4 Protocolos clínicos y aspectos metodológicos de los estudios; Clase 5 Dependencias metodológicas y Clase 6 Apoyo clínico en la terminalidad Dependencias metodológicas. Discusión: La muerte y la vida se convierten en un impasse al que se enfrentan los profesionales de la salud, porque hay factores decisivos en la vida de cada paciente en situación terminal sin esperanza de curación, lo que implica cuestiones éticas. Conclusión: Por lo tanto, se hace necesario que las instancias de salud garanticen protocolos, capacitación y apoyo psicológico para estos profesionales que trabajan directamente con los pacientes en situaciones de vida terminal, para que pueda haber una resignificación del proceso de atención al paciente y seguridad en la toma de decisiones por parte de los profesionales de la salud, y así poder preservar la ética.

SNMMI Clinical Trials Network Research Series for Technologists: Ethical Issues and Regulations in the Medical Workplace.

Ethical principles and laws have developed as medical practice and research have grown. This article discusses regulatory policies in patient care and the governing bodies that provide oversight. These include but are not limited to the Food and Drug Administration, Office for Human Research Protection, Code of Federal Regulations, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Joint Commission, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, World Health Organization, and International Conference on Harmonization. This article reviews ethical requirements in clinical research and provides examples of medical mistreatment that forced the development of these rules and regulations. Some include the Nuremberg Code, Declaration of Helsinki, and Belmont Report; good clinical practice; and the Common Rule. Several specific research documents are discussed further in this continuing education series. These guiding documents and principles are important because every patient and research subject deserves a safe environment with safe products and protection of privacy. Individuals deserve to understand their role in medicine and clinical research, have the right to refuse care, make informed decisions, know the risks and benefits included, and ultimately have their individual choices respected.

Cuidar y asistir: ¿hijos de un dios menor? / Care and support: children of a lesser god?

El sistema sanitario occidental corre el riesgo de descartar o dejar de lado una proporción importantede pacientes que requieren una atención menos tecnológica y más cercana y humana, que precisan mássoporte y cuidados. En un escenario así, tanto la asistencia cercana y los cuidados como los pacientes quenecesitan estos cuidados –y que no se beneficiarían de tratamientos agresivos o intervencionistas– puedenverse como algo secundario, como hijos de un dios menor. Sería preciso cambiar el paradigma para enten-der que la calidad de la atención no se limita a la tecnología. Y sería necesario también promover la digni-dad de los cuidados de modo que no se contemplen como algo secundario y pasivo, sino que se entiendaque estos cuidados deben ser no solo activos sino también intensos sin perder perfil humano y cercano.Favorecer la dignidad de los cuidados supone también promover la dignidad de todos los pacientes quehan podido quedar marginados o excluidos por parte de un sistema sanitario marcado por la tecnología,la complejidad y que tiene como objetivo la eficiencia.(AU)

Our health system runs the risk of ruling out or neglecting a significant proportion of patients whorequire less technological but closer and humane care, those who require more support and attention.In this scenario, it is easy that both the assistance and close care and the patients who need this care andwho would not benefit from aggressive or interventionist treatments may be considered as secondary: aschildren of a lesser god. It would be necessary to change the paradigm to understand that the quality ofcare is not limited to technology. And it would also be necessary to promote the dignity of care so that it isnot seen as secondary and passive. On the contrary, care should be understood not only as active but alsoas intense without losing its close and human profile. Promoting the dignity of care also means promotingthe dignity of all patients who may have been marginalized or excluded from this health system that ismarked by technology and complexity and whose goal is efficiency.(AU)

Understanding and mitigating moral injury in nurses.

Moral injury may be experienced when a person perpetrates, witnesses or fails to prevent an act that conflicts with their moral values and beliefs. The concept of moral injury has its origins in the context of military personnel encountering ethically challenging decisions during armed conflict. The term has been applied to healthcare and moral injury is increasingly acknowledged to be a challenge for healthcare professionals. Nurses across all specialties and settings are frequently required to make or witness ethically challenging decisions about patient care. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased nurses' risk of sustaining moral injury. This article discusses the manifestations of moral injury and its associated risk factors, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also outlines various strategies that can be used to mitigate and/or prevent moral injury in nurses.

In This Together: Navigating Ethical Challenges Posed by Family Clustering during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Harrowing stories reported in the media describe Covid-19 ravaging through families. This essay reports professional experiences of this phenomenon, family clustering, as encountered during the pandemic's spread across Southern California. We identify three ethical challenges following from it: Family clustering impedes shared decision-making by reducing available surrogate decision-makers for incapacitated patients, increases the emotional burdens of surrogate decision-makers, and exacerbates health disparities for and the suffering of people of color at increased likelihood of experiencing family clustering. We propose that, in response to these challenges, efforts in advance care planning be expanded, emotional support offered to surrogates and family members be increased, more robust state guidance be issued on ethical decision-making for unrepresented patients, ethics consultation be increased in the setting of conflict following from family clustering dynamics, and health care professionals pay more attention to systemic and personal racial biases and inequities that affect patient care and the surrogate experience.

"I wanted to participate in my own care": Evaluation of a Patient Navigation Program.

INTRODUCTION: Patient navigation programs can help people overcome barriers to outpatient care. Patient experiences with these programs are not well understood. The goal of this study was to understand patient experiences and satisfaction with an emergency department (ED)-initiated patient navigation (ED-PN) intervention for US Medicaid-enrolled frequent ED users. METHODS: We conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of patient experiences and satisfaction with an ED-PN program for patients who visited the ED more than four times in the prior year. Participants were Medicaid-enrolled, English- or Spanish-speaking, New Haven-CT residents over the age of 18. Pre-post ED-PN intervention surveys and post-ED-PN individual interviews were conducted. We analyzed baseline and follow-up survey responses as proportions of total responses. Interviews were coded by multiple readers, and interview themes were identified by consensus. RESULTS: A total of 49 participants received ED-PN. Of those, 80% (39/49) completed the post-intervention survey. After receiving ED-PN, participants reported high satisfaction, fewer barriers to medical care, and increased confidence in their ability to coordinate and manage their medical care. Interviews were conducted until thematic saturation was reached. Four main themes emerged from 11 interviews: 1) PNs were perceived as effective navigators and advocates; 2) health-related social needs were frequent drivers of and barriers to healthcare; 3) primary care utilization depended on clinic accessibility and quality of relationships with providers and staff; and 4) the ED was viewed as providing convenient, comprehensive care for urgent needs. CONCLUSIONS: Medicaid-enrolled frequent ED users receiving ED-PN had high satisfaction and reported improved ability to manage their health conditions.

New Horizons-Addressing Healthcare Disparities in Endocrine Disease: Bias, Science, and Patient Care.

Unacceptable healthcare disparities in endocrine disease have persisted for decades, and 2021 presents a difficult evolving environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the gross structural inequities that drive health disparities, and antiracism demonstrations remind us that the struggle for human rights continues. Increased public awareness and discussion of disparities present an urgent opportunity to advance health equity. However, it is more complicated to change the behavior of individuals and reform systems because societies are polarized into different factions that increasingly believe, accept, and live different realities. To reduce health disparities, clinicians must (1) truly commit to advancing health equity and intentionally act to reduce health disparities; (2) create a culture of equity by looking inwards for personal bias and outwards for the systemic biases built into their everyday work processes; (3) implement practical individual, organizational, and community interventions that address the root causes of the disparities; and (4) consider their roles in addressing social determinants of health and influencing healthcare payment policy to advance health equity. To care for diverse populations in 2021, clinicians must have self-insight and true understanding of heterogeneous patients, knowledge of evidence-based interventions, ability to adapt messaging and approaches, and facility with systems change and advocacy. Advancing health equity requires both science and art; evidence-based roadmaps and stories that guide the journey to better outcomes, judgment that informs how to change the behavior of patients, providers, communities, organizations, and policymakers, and passion and a moral mission to serve humanity.

Examining the Educational Value of Student-Run Clinics for Health Care Students.

PURPOSE: Student-run clinics (SRCs) are increasingly recognized as an educational experience in many health professions' curricula. Several benefits have been documented, including students with SRC experience using patient-centered approaches to care, showing interest in working with marginalized populations, and more fully appreciating the care provided by interprofessional teams. Yet, few studies have explored student experiences within SRCs or examined how these experiences affect and shape these documented attitudes. This study explored the experiences of students at an SRC and the effect of these experiences on their learnings. METHOD: From November 2016 to July 2017, 23 students in the Community Health Initiative by University Students SRC at the University of British Columbia participated in 2 focus group interviews: the first after their first clinic day and the second on their final clinic day. Open- and closed-ended questions were used to explore participants' learnings from the SRC. Using a grounded theory approach, the authors iteratively analyzed the transcribed interviews, adjusting questions for subsequent focus groups as new themes evolved. Three investigators each separately coded the data; the full team then collectively consolidated the themes and developed explanatory models for each theme. RESULTS: Two themes were identified from the focus group input: (1) through managing real, complex patients-in situations unlike those offered in classroom and case-based learning environments-students gained insights into the intricacies of incorporating the patient's perspective into their definition and management of the patient's problem, and (2) by working as a team instead of focusing on delineating scopes of practice, students gained a meaningful understanding of the roles of practitioners from other health professions. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides insights into the unique opportunities SRCs offer health care students early in their training, enabling them to develop a richer understanding and appreciation of holistic and interprofessional approaches to patient care.

Ethical issues in using ambient intelligence in health-care settings.

Ambient intelligence is increasingly finding applications in health-care settings, such as helping to ensure clinician and patient safety by monitoring staff compliance with clinical best practices or relieving staff of burdensome documentation tasks. Ambient intelligence involves using contactless sensors and contact-based wearable devices embedded in health-care settings to collect data (eg, imaging data of physical spaces, audio data, or body temperature), coupled with machine learning algorithms to efficiently and effectively interpret these data. Despite the promise of ambient intelligence to improve quality of care, the continuous collection of large amounts of sensor data in health-care settings presents ethical challenges, particularly in terms of privacy, data management, bias and fairness, and informed consent. Navigating these ethical issues is crucial not only for the success of individual uses, but for acceptance of the field as a whole.