BT406 GDB 1 Solution and Discussion

[zareen]

Describe the ethical concerns during experimental research???

[zareen]

@zareen said in BT406 GDB 1 Solution and Discussion:

Describe the ethical concerns during experimental research???

The major ethical issues in conducting research are:
a) Informed consent,
b) Beneficence- Do not harm
c) Respect for anonymity and confidentiality
d) Respect for privacy.

However, both the nature of nursing which focuses on caring, preventing harm and protecting dignity and the advocates role of nurses which calls for defending the rights of subjects, are sometimes in congruent with the ethics in research. Conclusions: Ethical issues, conflicting values, and ambiguity in decision making, are recurrently emerging from literature review on nursing research. Because of lack of clarity in ethical standards, nurses must develop an awareness of these issues and an effective framework to deal with problems involving human rights.

Human experimentation has been conducted even before 18th century. However, the ethical attitudes of researchers drawn the interest of society only after 1940’s because of human exploitation in several cases. Professional codes and laws were introduced since then in order to prevent scientific abuses of human lives. [4] The Nazi experiments led to the Nuremberg Code (1947) which was the leading code for all subsequent codes made to protect human rights in research. This code focuses on voluntary informed consent, liberty of withdrawal from research, protection from physical and mental harm, or suffering and death. It also emphasises the risk- benefit balance. [5] The only weak point of this code was the self regulation of researchers which can be abused in some research studies. [4] All declarations followed, forbade nontherapeutic research. It was only in 1964 with the declaration of Helsinki that the need for non therapeutic research was initiated. [6] The declaration emphasised the protection of subjects in this kind of research and strongly proclaimed that the well being of individuals is more important than scientific and social interests. [4]

In terms of Nursing the first inquiry was the “Nightingale Pledge” (1983). Since then there has been a significant development of professional codes in conduct and research. The American Nurses’ Association (ANA) Guidelines for Research, the Human Rights Guidelines for nurses in clinical and other research (1985) and the Royal College of Nursing Code for nurses in research (1977) provide a strong assistance to professional nurses as well as reassurance to patients, the public and society, of professionals’ intentions. [7-9]

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