Challenges of hospital ethics committees: a phenomenological study

Samira Raoofi; Seddighe Arefi; Rahim  Khodayari-Zarnaq; Bashir  Azimi-Nayebi; Mir Sajjad Seyyed Mousavi

doi:10.18502/jmehm.v14i26.8282

Samira Raoofi PhD Student in Health Care Management, Department of Health Care Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seddighe Arefi PhD Student in Health Education and Health Promotion, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Rahim Khodayari-Zarnaq Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; Tabriz Health Service Management Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Bashir Azimi-Nayebi PhD Student in Health Policy, Student Research Committee, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Mir Sajjad Seyyed Mousavi Assistant Professor, Department of basic sciences, Faculty of Paramedicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jmehm.v14i26.8282

Keywords: Ethics committees; Medical ethics; Professional ethics; Ethical issues; Qualitative research.

Abstract

Medical ethics committees play an important role in examining and resolving ethical problems in hospitals by developing ethical guidelines and making ethical decisions. This study aimed at investigating the challenges that these committees typically face.

This qualitative phenomenological study was conducted in 2020. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling and participation of 19 ethics committees’ members in Tehran hospitals. Then, data were analyzed by the content analysis method using MAXQDA-10 software.

Challenges of hospital ethics committees were classified into three main themes including external factors, intra-organizational factors, and ethics committee structure, in addition to six sub-themes including inadequate supervision, lack of instructions, organizational culture, human resources, nature of the committee, and ineffectiveness of committees’ decisions.

Since many challenges are faced by ethics committees, plans should be developed and implemented to fulfill the following purposes: (i) strengthen the position of these committees in hospitals, (ii) continuous supervision over the formation and holding of the committees, (iii) their operation process, (iv) their decision-making process, and (v) process of sharing committees’ decisions with all hospital stakeholders and staff.