BACKGROUND There are several studies that have targeted student nurses, but few have clarified the details pertaining to the specific ethical problems in clinical practice with the viewpoint of the nursing faculty. This study was to investigate the ethical problems in clinical practice reported by student nurses to Japanese nursing faculty members for the purpose of improving ethics education i...

Clinical ethics committees (CECs) are well established in North America where they are known as hospital or health care ethics committees. Similar groups and other kinds of clinical ethics support are now developing in Europe. This supplement to the Journal of Medical Ethics provides an overview of the issues arising from the provision of clinical ethics support services, and clinical ethics co...

Regulatory and ethical guidelines require clinical trial sponsors to disseminate clinical trial adverse event reports to involved investigators and human research ethics committees. Compliance with these guidelines has resulted in a major administrative burden for ethics committees. This burden does not necessarily contribute to the protection of clinical trial participants. Rationalisation of ...

Professionalism and codes of ethics are intrinsically tied. As professions establish themselves, their members write codes of ethics to help define the professions and who can be a considered a professional. The codes explain why and how professions are deserving of trust, establish standards with specific guidelines for ethical practice, and designate who will have the authority to enforce sta...

Over the past decades, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have prevailed over clinical judgement, case reports, and observational studies and became the gold evidential standard in medicine. Furthermore, during the same time frame, RCTs became a crucial part of the regulatory process whereby a new therapeutic can gain access to the drug market. Today, clinical trials are large and tightly regu...

Nutrition support should be considered optional when this therapy is not in congruence with an individual's wishes based on quality of life goals, during the end-of-life period. Ethical dilemmas, dealing with nutrition therapy, are often due to lack of early communication between individuals, their family, and healthcare providers. Landmark young adult ethical court cases, dealing with nutritio...

A widely accepted idea of clinical science is that it seeks the truth and that the knowledge acquired should be of benefit to patients. Therefore, as clinical researchers, we give response to two concerns deeply rooted in the human nature: The desire to know and the need to help someone suffering. However, the ideas and values that sustain clinical research, and take it to its most genuine obje...