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KMID : 1025620170200040376
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Korean Journal of Medical Ethics
2017 Volume.20 No. 4 p.376 ~ p.385
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A Survey of the Ethical Problems Faced by Healthcare Professionals and the Need for Clinical Ethics Consultation Services in University Hospitals in South Korea
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Kim Min-Sun
Kim Cho-Hee
Hong Jin-Ui
An Ah-Reum
Choi Eun-Kyung
Keam Bhum-Suk
Yun Young-Ho
Heo Dae-Seog
Park Hye-Yoon
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Abstract
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature and number of ethical conflicts faced by physicians and nurses working at university hospitals in South Korea and also to assess the need for clinical ethics consultation services. Data collection was conducted from August 6 to 24, 2015 at three university hospitals in metropolitan areas; a total of 316 physicians and nurses participated in the study. The results showed that 85.1% of physicians and 76.6% of nurses answered that they had experienced ethical prob-lems more than once a year during the course of their career, and about one third of respondents experi-enced such conflicts at least once every three months. For physicians, ethical dilemmas arose most often in the context of end-of-life care, mainly in terminating life-sustaining treatment (65.7%) and notifying patients of the end of medical treatment (63.6%). Ethical dilemmas experienced by nurses related primar-ily to difficult care decisions other than life-sustaining treatment (73.9%), impaired decision-making in pa-tients (66.7%), and dealing with surrogate decision-makers (66.7%). When faced with ethical dilemmas, healthcare professionals usually made decisions informally by themselves or in consultation with close col-leagues. More than 97% of respondents answered that they needed a clinical ethics consultation service. Future research should focus on how the ethics consulting services described in the Life-sustaining Treat-ment Decision-making Act of 2018 can be developed into an effective model for solving ethical problems that arise in medical practice.
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KEYWORD
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ethical dilemma, clinical ethics consultation, health care ethics committee, clinical ethics support, the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act
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