Perceptions of the effectiveness of ethical guidelines: an international study of physicians

Abstract

The intent of ethics is to establish a set of standards that will provide a framework to modify, regulate, and possibly enhance moral behaviour. Eleven focus groups were conducted with physicians from six culturally distinct countries to explore their perception of formalized, written ethical guidelines (i.e., codes of ethics, credos, value and mission statements) that attempt to direct their ethical practice. Six themes emerged from the data: lack of awareness, no impact, marginal impact, other codes or value statements supersede, personal codes or values dictate, and ethical guidelines are useful. Overall, codes were valued only when they were congruent with existing personal morality. The findings suggest the need to re-evaluate the purpose, content, and delivery of codes for them to improve their function in promoting ethical conduct.

International survey of nephrologists' perceptions and attitudes about rewards and compensations for kidney donation

“…Finally, in our post hoc analysis of religion as an independent variable, we considered the dominant religion of the respondent's country. While the pivotal role of the dominant religion as a foundation for ethical conduct has precedence in the literature [68], more detailed information about individual respondents' religious affiliations would allow for more accurate analysis of the impact of this variable. The main strength of the study is the inclusion of a large number of participants with diverse practice patterns from over 70 countries.…”

Discourse on medicine: meditative and calculative approaches to ethics from an international perspective

“…If Heidegger is correct in stating we are in flight from meditative thinking, he is also correct that we are in flight to the science, technology, and the economics of medicine. The latter should continue; the former is the responsibility of the medical profession globally to make changes to curricula to give students more than simply an awareness of ethical codes as the basis of ethics education [7]. Students should be encouraged to think about their practice meditatively against the horizon the society and the dignity of the individuals they serve.…”

An International Study of Nurses' Ethical Ideology and Religiosity

“…While there was no significant association between religiosity and ideology, the results suggest that nurses' religiosity, ethical idealism, and ethical relativism differ as a function of country/culture. Future research can investigate whether these differences manifest themselves in behaviour, as is the case with physicians who identified personal values as the strongest moderator of ethical choice [40].…”