Matriculating Students' Opinions on Cadaveric Dissection: Maintaining Tradition in Changing Times.

As medical education advances, cadaveric dissection is no longer the sole modality to teach anatomy. In light of this, there is limited data regarding how incoming medical students perceive the importance of cadaveric dissection and whether they continue to desire the experience as they consider matriculating to medical school. Surveys were sent to incoming first-year medical students concerning their views of death and dissection. Our data show a strong and temporally reproducible opinion that cadaveric dissection is important among incoming medical students. This survey also reviews the predominant emotional reactions generated in anticipation of the cadaveric dissection experience.

IRB practices and policies regarding the secondary research use of biospecimens.

BACKGROUND: As sharing and secondary research use of biospecimens increases, IRBs and researchers face the challenge of protecting and respecting donors without comprehensive regulations addressing the human subject protection issues posed by biobanking. Variation in IRB biobanking policies about these issues has not been well documented. METHODS: This paper reports on data from a survey of IRB Administrative Directors from 60 institutions affiliated with the Clinical and Translation Science Awards (CTSAs) about their policies and practices regarding secondary use and sharing of biospecimens. Specifically, IRB ADs were asked about consent for future use of biospecimens, assignment of risk for studies using biobanked specimens, and sharing of biospecimens/data. RESULTS: Our data indicate that IRBs take varying approaches to protocol review, risk assessment, and data sharing, especially when specimens are not anonymized. CONCLUSION: Unclear or divergent policies regarding biospecimen research among IRBs may constitute a barrier to advancing genetic studies and to inter-institutional collaboration, given different institutional requirements for human subjects protections.

Incorporating principles and practical wisdom in research ethics education: a preliminary study.

PURPOSE: Researchers are faced with daily ethical decisions that are subtle and nuanced. However, research ethics training has primarily focused on formal guidelines, general ethical principles, and historically noteworthy cases of research abuse, which may not prepare researchers to respond to everyday dilemmas in research. This study characterized researchers' responses to ethical dilemmas with the goal of aligning research ethics education programs with the demands of practice. METHOD: As a preliminary study, the authors conducted 23 semistructured interviews with senior researchers and research administrators engaged in research with human subjects at the University of Washington and affiliated institutions in 2004. Transcripts were reviewed for research conflicts and strategies used to resolve conflicts identified by participants. RESULTS: Participants referenced two distinct methods of reasoning when faced with conflicts: formal guidelines and practical wisdom. Formal guidelines include established goals, boundaries, and absolutes. Practical wisdom, an Aristotelian concept involving intuitions developed through experience, facilitates responses to everyday dilemmas and new situations. Developing practical wisdom requires researchers to calibrate their own intuitions about right and wrong. Three practices were reported to contribute to this development: self-reflection, sincere skepticism, and open dialogue with colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: These reflections from the senior researchers suggest a need to expand the scope of ethics education programs to include a focus on the development of researchers' pragmatic decision making in addition to the formal rules that govern research. Further research should explore effective educational and institutional strategies that can foster researchers' development in ethical decision making and conduct.