Assessment of Medical Advertisement Oversight in Iran’s Medical Council: Compliance Evaluation with Medical Ethics Standards

Maryam  Ebrahimi; Mina  Forouzandeh; Kourosh  Delpasand; Pardis  Mirzaei; Saeed  Biroudian

doi:10.18502/jimc.v9i1.20481

Maryam Ebrahimi School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mina Forouzandeh Department of Medical Ethics, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Kourosh Delpasand School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Pardis Mirzaei Spiritual Health Research Center, Research Institute for Health Development, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran
Saeed Biroudian Department of Medical Ethics, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jimc.v9i1.20481

Keywords: Advertising, Internet, Iran, Legal liability, Marketing, Pharmaceutical preparations, Software

Abstract

Background: One of the most important ways to protect consumer health is to regulate the advertising and marketing of pharmaceutical and healthcare products and to promote professional ethics in the trade of these products. Ethical and legal liability can protect consumers’ corporeal and spiritual interests and help the profession maintain the market.

Methods: The initial phase of this cross-sectional study, a literature review was conducted to identify the ethical principles and criteria relevant to advertising in healthcare services. Following this, a researcher-developed checklist was created, incorporating the ethical standards derived from these principles. This checklist was then used to evaluate the existing and completed files within the Iran`s medical council, which were utilized by the technical and supervisory deputy of the Iran`s medical council to monitor medical advertising across the country during the period from 2021 to 2022. After the data collection, all the information was analyzed using SPSS version 26 statistical software.

Results: In this study, 561 advertising content published in the field of healthcare services in cyberspace was examined. Finally, in evaluating the compliance of the monitoring conducted by the Iran`s medical council with the established ethical criteria, it was found that out of the 17 criteria identified, 7 criteria (41.2%) were monitored during oversight by the Iran`s medical council, while 10 criteria (58.8%) were not addressed.

Conclusion: In conclusion, while this study shed light on various aspects of medical advertising within healthcare services, it also revealed critical areas requiring attention to enhance ethical compliance.