Your browser doesn't support javascript.
Participatory Approach to Develop Evidence-Based Clinical Ethics Guidelines for the Care of COVID-19 Patients: A Mixed Method Study From Nepal.
Bhattarai, Suraj; Adhikari, Anurag; Rayamajhee, Binod; Dhungana, Jaya; Singh, Minu; Koirala, Sarun; Shakya, Dhana Ratna.
  • Bhattarai S; Department of Global Health, Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (GIIS), Kathmandu, Nepal.
  • Adhikari A; Department of Infection and Immunology, Kathmandu Research Institute for Biological Sciences (KRIBS), Lalitpur, Nepal.
  • Rayamajhee B; Department of Infection and Immunology, Kathmandu Research Institute for Biological Sciences (KRIBS), Lalitpur, Nepal.
  • Dhungana J; School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
  • Singh M; Department of Global Health, Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (GIIS), Kathmandu, Nepal.
  • Koirala S; Department of Infection and Immunology, Kathmandu Research Institute for Biological Sciences (KRIBS), Lalitpur, Nepal.
  • Shakya DR; Department of Anatomy, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan, Nepal.
Front Public Health ; 10: 873881, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1933897
ABSTRACT
During health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers face numerous ethical challenges while catering to the needs of patients in healthcare settings. Although the data recapitulating high-income countries ethics frameworks are available, the challenges faced by clinicians in resource-limited settings of low- and middle-income countries are not discussed widely due to a lack of baseline data or evidence. The Nepali healthcare system, which is chronically understaffed and underequipped, was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in its capacity to manage health services and resources for needy patients, leading to ethical dilemmas and challenges during clinical practice. This study aimed to develop a standard guideline that would address syndemic ethical dilemmas during clinical care of COVID-19 patients who are unable to afford standard-of-care. A mixed method study was conducted between February and June of 2021 in 12 government designated COVID-19 treatment hospitals in central Nepal. The draft guideline was discussed among the key stakeholders in the pandemic response in Nepal. The major ethical dilemmas confronted by the study participants (50 healthcare professionals providing patient care at COVID-19 treatment hospitals) could be grouped into five major pillars of ethical clinical practice rational allocation of medical resources, updated treatment protocols that guide clinical decisions, standard-of-care regardless of patient's economic status, effective communication among stakeholders for prompt patient care, and external factors such as political and bureaucratic interference affecting ethical practice. This living clinical ethics guideline, which has been developed based on the local evidence and case stories of frontline responders, is expected to inform the policymakers as well as the decision-makers positioned at the concerned government units. These ethics guidelines could be endorsed with revisions by the concerned regulatory authorities for the use during consequent waves of COVID-19 and other epidemics that may occur in the future. Other countries affected by the pandemic could conduct similar studies to explore ethical practices in the local clinical and public health context.
Subject(s)
Keywords

Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 / COVID-19 Drug Treatment Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: Asia Language: English Journal: Front Public Health Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Fpubh.2022.873881

Similar

MEDLINE

...
LILACS

LIS


Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 / COVID-19 Drug Treatment Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: Asia Language: English Journal: Front Public Health Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Fpubh.2022.873881