Ethical Concerns In Healthcare Technology Research
Ethical Concerns In Healthcare Technology Research
Introduction
The advancement in technology has played an important role in shaping health care around the world. Today, doctors use and depend on different kinds of tools to guide and support their practices. They also depend in various tools to facilitate relationships and communication with health care professional and patients. Technology has had a dramatic effect on health care industry. Technology has helped prevent diseases improve patient outcome and reduce mortality. Technology has improved screening of diseases and immunization. Technology advances have led to different of different diagnostics including ultrasound scans and magnetic resonance imaging. Other diagnostics include treatment using genes cells and stem cells. Researchers have conducted a series of studies on healthcare technology to examine a wide range of issues related to technology and health care. Some have examined the importance and effect of technology on health care. Others have examined the effectiveness of technology in enhancing health care delivery and quality of care.
Ethical concerns in healthcare technology research
Research on healthcare technology is a debatable subject in bioethics due to the ethical concerns associated with healthcare technology research. Healthcare technology research involves human subjects and researchers are supposed to consider a wide range of things to protect the subjects. Researchers should understand different ethical issues related to healthcare technology. The ethical issues include informed consent, privacy, and confidentiality, voluntary participation, and anonymity among others (Kimmel, 2009).
Informed consent is one of the main ethical requirements underlying research on human subjects. The human subjects should understand the nature of the study according to the principle of informed consent. The investigator should educate the participants on the benefits and risks of the study. Healthcare technology studies may have risks and benefits, and it is the role of the researcher to determine the risks and benefits. In case the research has risks, the investigator should determine whether the risks are beyond the minimal level. IRB considers risks minimal if they are not greater than the risks experienced in daily life or when performing physical tests.
A risk is considered more than minimal if it endangers the health and life of the participants. Healthcare technology research can cause harm to the subjects if it entails experiments. Risks in healthcare technology research can occur when the subjects experience the research procedures. The procedures can be harmful to the physical health of the participants. Risks that are greater than minimal should be reduced in order to protect the subjects. The research should show that the benefits of the research outweigh the risks. He should also inform the subjects of the consequences of participating in the study. Besides, the researcher should develop procedures that remedy any adverse effects associated with the research. IRB encourages research that produces potential benefits to the research subjects, community, discipline and profession. The healthcare technology research will enhance subject knowledge about various technologies. Additionally, the healthcare technology research will contribute to the theoretical knowledge base(Kimmel, 2009).
The subjects should participate in the research voluntary after understanding its aim, procedure and risks. Also, the subjects should participate in the research after understanding its benefits and other factors that might affect their decision to be involved in the research. The informed consent process consists of various elements. First, the researcher should fully disclose the nature of the study. Second, the researcher should disclose the method of participation and subject participation. Third, the participants should comprehend the research and decide voluntarily to participate. The informed consent should be documented by filling a consent form approved by the institutional review board. In addition, the informed consent should be signed by the subjects. Though the institutional review board signs a consent form, it is the duty of the research to make sure the subjects understand the information.
People might not be involved in a research as participants’ unless they comprehend the information provided and an informed consent is obtained. Also, people might not take part in the healthcare technology study unless the institutional review board has approved a waiver for an informed consent. The principle of voluntary participation plays an essential role in healthcare technology research. The rights of the subjects should be protected when carrying out research. The participants should decide to partake in the study or not. The principle of voluntary participation requires that subjects not to be compelled to play a part in the study. In this case, the subjects will decide to participate in the research (Lavery, 2007).
Another ethical concern is confidentiality. Researchers should adhere to the principle of confidentiality when doing research. In this case, the research should conform to the principle of confidentiality. The information gathered from the participants should not be disclosed without the consent of the participants. In addition, the information obtained should not be disclosed to outsiders without the permission of the subjects. Participants provide different information. They provide personal information, and the information should remain confidential. Breaching the principle of confidentiality affects the rights of the subjects. The subjects have a right to confidentiality. However, the investigator might be forced to violate the confidentiality and privacy principle. The investigator might infringe the confidentiality and privacy principle if the subject us a threat to the public or when required by law. The investigator should be careful when conducting healthcare technology research and determine when to share information without the permission of the subjects and when not to. Therefore, the researcher should assure the participants that the information provided will not be shared with unauthorized people (IItis, 2012).
Confidentiality is linked with the issue of minimal risks. Federal laws require researchers to participant’s involvement confidential to all people outside the research including other participants. They should keep the involvement of participants confidential especially if disclosing the involvement of the subjects constitutes a risk greater than a minimal risk. The privacy of the participant’s participation should be maintained at different phases of the research. The investigator should maintain the participation of the subjects confidential during recruitment. Also, the investigator should maintain the participation of the subject in the healthcare technology research confidential when collecting data and managing data. In addition to that, he should maintain the participants participation confidential when sharing the results and disposing data after finishing the research. The effort to maintain confidentiality should be equal to the magnitude of risk the research exposes to the participants. The researcher should state clearly in the informed consent letter if he /she wishes to disclose the participant’s identity beyond the study settings. Researchers that include videotape participants should have a video release form. The researcher should ask for permission from the participants to videotape and uniform them who will view the videotape. Also, he should inform them how the videotape will be discarded after finishing the project (McMillan, Draper, Dawson et al, 2007).
Anonymity principle is a concern in healthcare technology research as the researcher has to follow the anonymity principle. The subjects used in the healthcare technology research should remain anonymous during and after the study. The principle of anonymity guarantees the subjects privacy, but researchers find it hard to accomplish. Investigators find it difficult to accomplish the anonymity principle in cases where the subjects should be measured at different time points. For example, the researchers might not accomplish anonymity during pre post study. In this case, the investigator might not accomplish anonymity if the research is a pre- post research. However, if the research is not a pre post study, the subjects should be anonymous throughout the study (McMillan, Draper, Dawson et al, 2007).
Investigators have to deal with the ethical concern of an individual right to service. Good healthcare studies necessitate the utilization of a control group. The group consists of participants not receiving treatment and program being examined. However, individuals assigned to the control group may feel that their right to access the service has been infringed. In this case, the researcher has to ensure the participants assigned to the control group get the treatment. The right to service is an ethical issue in healthcare technology research as the participants assigned to a control group may feel the researcher violates their right to aces the program or treatment. The researcher should decide whether the control group members should get the treatment and access the program when conducting the healthcare technology research. Providing the control group with similar treatment and intervention as the experimental group will affect the study validity and reliability. This is because the researcher will not be able to compare data obtained from the control group and experimental group in order to make the right conclusion (Panicola, 2007).
Lastly, researchers conducting healthcare technology research have to deal with ethical issues related to the participation and exclusion of vulnerable group and the informed consent quality. The research should decide whether to include a vulnerable group or exclude it. The researcher should protect the vulnerable group from harm if members of the group are included. There is no clear distinction between treatment, care and research as they are conducted in a similar setting and by similar professional. This affects healthcare technology research as the researcher and participants might not differentiae treatment and research when conducting research (Wills & Stommel, 2004).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ethical concerns discussed above may affect the healthcare technology research if not addressed. The investigator should not infringe the principle of confidentiality, privacy, anonymity and informed consent when doing research. The participants should familiar with the risks and advantages of the study before taking part. This will enable them to voluntarily decide to be involved in the research. The researcher should ensure the participants remain anonymous where necessary to protect them from risk. The healthcare technology research can only meet the requirements of the institutional review board if the researcher does not infringe the principles. The researcher should protect the subjects from harm or risk by minimizing the risks the research poses to the participants.
Reference
IItis, A.S. (2012). Research Ethics. Taylor & Francis
Kimmel, A.J. (2009). Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research. John Wiley & Sons
Lavery, J.V. (2007). Ethical Issues in International Biomedical Research. Oxford University Press
McMillan, J., Draper, H., Dawson, A., et al. (2007). Principles of Health Care Ethics. John Wiley & Sons
Panicola, M.R. (2007). An Introduction to Health Care Ethics. Saint Mary’s Press
Wills, C.E., & Stommel, M. (2004). Clinical Research. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
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