According to the American Heart Association the new simpler guidelines for giving CPR to people suffering cardiac arrest, will be more effective in keeping the blood flowing to the heart, when p
If you thought you were safer in hospital than on a airplane, you could be wrong.According to Britain's chief medical officer, the risk of being killed in a hospital in a developed country due to medical error is around one in 300, while the ri
Government reforms are threatening the future of district general hospitals, says an expert in the British Medical Journal. Given the iconic status of hospitals in the eyes of the public, government risks
According to a new report, the financial problems being experienced in the National Health Service in the UK are all set to worsen over the next few years and a number of hospitals could fail.The
Health Minister Shaun Woodward has announced a consultation on proposals for dental services over the next 10 years. The Primary Care Dental Strategy proposes that dental services should be commissioned at a local level thereby pr
Being hospitalized can be a traumatic experience, especially for older persons. Hospitals are noisy, disorienting, full of strangers and infections often spread among patients.Now a new study has shown that for older persons with certain acute
A team of scientists from New Zealand have found that Vitamin D could play a role in keeping the lungs healthy.The researchers from the University of Auckland found in a study of 14,091 peo
A hospital in Switzerland has announced it will allow assisted suicide on its premises for terminally ill patients. Although the practice is not illegal in Switzerland, the conditions for permitting an assisted suicide remain very strict.
A British man has been refused hospital treatment unless he gives up smoking.Mr Frederick Smith, 60, says he is worried his condition could worsen while he waits and has criticised a Lincoln County hospital which is refusing to treat him until
For people who suffer from on-going chronic lower backache they may find some relief in a yoga class.According to researchers, in a study of 101 adults with persistent low back pain it was found that a gentle yoga class seemed to be a better al
A sound knowledge of medical ethics is essential to the good practice of medicine, yet conclusive evidence exists that doctors need help with ethical problems, writes Daniel Sokol of Imperial College London.
About a fifth of NHS acute trusts currently have a clinical ethics committee. Although these provide a valuable service in drafting hospital policies and helping doctors resolve ethical dilemmas, most are ill suited to respond to the immediate problems that doctors encounter in their daily work.
In contrast, many hospitals in North America have full time clinical ethicists as well as clinical ethics committees, who can be called on by staff or patients for help in medico-ethical matters.
Studies have shown that ethics consultations are associated with reductions in time spent on ventilators and days in hospital, and that most doctors and nurses who have used the service find it helpful. Clinical ethicists could also contribute to the continuing medical education of healthcare staff in medical ethics through lecturing and private consultations, adds the author.
In light of all the evidence, we now need to introduce clinical ethicists in hospitals in the United Kingdom, he says. Doctors cannot possibly deal with all the ethical problems they encounter in their professional lives, nor can they be expected to analyse complex ethical issues, and to know how similar cases were handled elsewhere.
"Clinical ethics committees cannot alone cope with the demands of ethically troubled doctors at the coalface. The use of clinical ethicists would represent an important step forward," he concludes.
Contact: Daniel Sokol, Doctoral Candidate in Medical Ethics, Medical Ethics Unit, Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, Imperial College London, UK Mobile: +44 (0)7818 412 612 Email: daniel.sokol@talk21.com
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