Analysis of the current situation of the construction of ethics committees in China / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the current development of ethics committees in China, for reference in promoting their progress to catch up with the current social development in China.Methods:From July to August 2022, a self-designed questionnaire was used to survey the status of ethics committees in secondary and above hospitals, the disease prevention and control centers and infectious disease hospitals nationwide, using multi-stage stratified sampling method for sampling. A descriptive analysis of questionnaire data was made on the data so collected. In 2022, 22 ethics committees were selected through stratified sampling based on the eastern, central, and western economic zones, and in-depth interviews were conducted with their secretaries. The interviews covered such factors as issues encountered in ethics review, specific suggestions for medical ethics training work, and the necessity of establishing an independent third-party social evaluation institution for ethics committees. The grounded theory was used to encode the interview data in three levels, and NVivo 11.0 software was used for coverage, emotion recognition and word frequency analysis.Results:107 questionnaires were effectively collected, covering 23 provincial-level administrative regions. Among them, 63 ethics committees operated as an independent office; 49 of the committees had one ethics expert as their member, and 80 institutional administrators served as the committee chairpersons at the same time; 107 institutions had developed their articles of association and ethical review regulations; 21 had not yet established a tracking and review mechanism; 33 institutions had not conducted education and training activities for the public, and only 25 institutions had passed the certification of relevant ethical certification systems at home and abroad. The results of the grounded theory analysis showed the following three problems in the construction of ethics committees efficiency and quality of ethical review, ethical training, and multi-institution construction. Among the secondary nodes, the reference points focused on member capacity ( 24), work operation ( 24) and training activities ( 17) .Conclusions:At present, the ethics committees in China were steadily developing and were not yet perfect in terms of infrastructure, membership composition, review and supervision, education and training, and evaluation and accreditation. It is necessary to further optimize the allocation of resources, improve the membership structure and the proportion of experts from different specialties participating in ethical review, and strengthen the construction of regional ethic committees.