[Ethics in clinical practice and in health care]

Clin Ter. 2015;166(4):e276-80. doi: 10.7417/T.2015.1874.
[Article in Italian]

Abstract

The clinical ethics is the identification, analysis and solution of moral problems that can arise during the care of a patient. Given that when dealing with ethical issues in health care some risks will be encountered (talking about ethics in general, or as a problem overlapped with others in this area, or by delegation to legislative determinations) in the text certain important aspects of the topic are examined. First of all ethics as human quality of the relationship between people for the common good, especially in health services where there are serious problems like the life and the health. It is also necessary a "humanizing relationship" between those who work in these services in order to achieve quality and efficiency in this business. It is important a proper training of health professionals, especially doctors, so that they can identify the real needs and means of intervention. It is also important that scientific research must respect fundamental ethical assumptions. In conclusion, ethics in health care is not a simple matter of "cookbook" rules, but involves the responsibility and consciousness of individual operators.

Keywords: Ethics; Health services; Scientific research.

MeSH terms

  • Biomedical Research / ethics
  • Ethics, Clinical*
  • Health Services / ethics*
  • Humans
  • Professional-Patient Relations / ethics