Important milestones for cancer at the Nobel prize.

The Nobel Prize, which is awarded annually, is open to everyone, regardless of nationality, race, belief or ideology, and winners are announced in October. We evaluated the history of the Nobel prizes for awards that have been awarded in fields related to cancer. The contents of the research and their contribution to oncology were determined and reviewed. There were nine awards directly related to cancer. Only studies thought to be groundbreaking in carcinogenesis and molecular treatment of cancer are included in this review.

Questions asked through two examples of dilemmas of publication ethics in the process of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a kind of global disaster caused by the new coronavirus-19, the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Since the first eruption of this pandemic, which adversely affected the world in many ways, a large number of publications have been presented to the world of science. In this article, possible publication ethical dilemmas related to scientific articles increasing in number during the COVID-19 pandemic were tried to be reminded through two examples of articles.

Attitudes towards and experiences of ethical dilemmas in treatment decision-making process among medical oncologists.

AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the attitudes towards and experiences of ethical dilemmas in the treatment decision-making process among medical oncologists who are the members of the Turkish Society of Medical Oncology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire was developed based on related literature. Between April 1 and May 1, 2016, questionnaires were electronically sent to 412 medical oncologists who were the members of the Turkish Society of Medical Oncology. Overall, 125 of 412 medical oncologists (30.33%) filled the questionnaire. RESULTS: Most medical oncologists encountered dilemmas, such as a lack of comprehension among the patients and family members regarding the information provided, a lack of clarity regarding the identity and role of individuals in the decision-making process, and demands for futile treatment. The most common problem (70.4%) was the lack of available clinical ethics consultancy services to guide medical oncologists when facing an ethical dilemma. Legal concerns regarding withholding or withdrawing futile treatments were high. More than half of the medical oncologists (56.8%) reported the preservation of the quality of life as their primary professional duty. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that medical oncologists tend to adopt an approach that respects patient autonomy and that adheres to the principle of proportionality rather than a paternalistic approach when facing ethical dilemmas. Within this context, we suggest an increased use of a multidisciplinary team approach, ethics consultancy services, and training programmes as well as the publication of ethical guidelines tailored to the oncology field.

The compassion levels of midwives working in the delivery room.

BACKGROUND: Compassion-based practices in midwifery are the most important expression of the depth of care quality. This concept is insufficiently represented in literature, therefore, studies on this subject are of utmost importance. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine the levels of compassion of midwives working in the delivery room and the factors affecting these levels. The study was carried out in Kocaeli, Turkey. METHODS: This descriptive study was carried out from 1 February to 15 April 2019 in delivery rooms of six different hospitals located in the provincial centre of Kocaeli, Turkey, with 78 actively working midwives. Data were collected using a 'Compassion Scale' and analysed using the Mann-Whitney U test, the Kruskal-Wallis H test and the Spearman correlation test. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: This study was conducted according to ethical scientific guidelines. RESULTS: The compassion score of the midwives were found to be 4.19 ± 0.39. The total compassion score was affected by professional factors such as number of patients, alternating shift work, number of traumatic births and work satisfaction. While the kindness subscores decreased depending on shift work and number of traumatic births, it was determined that the midwives who were satisfied with their work had higher kindness scores than those who were not. Also, as the age and professional experience of the midwives and the number of traumatic births increased, their indifference score also increased. Midwives who reported that they were not satisfied with their job had higher scores regarding separation and disengagement scores than those who were satisfied with their job. CONCLUSION: It was determined that the compassion levels of midwives were found to be negatively affected by factors such as age, professional experience, job satisfaction and number of monthly traumatic births in a month. They should be reminded that compassionate midwifery care for women is a basic human right.

Patient's companions as a vulnerable group in Turkish hospitals: A descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: In Turkish hospitals, in addition to health care professionals, there are people who are also a significant part of the health care services; even though they are not professionals. In Turkey, these people are known as refakatçi (a patient's companion). OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the concept of the patient's companion from their own perspective and to evaluate the concept of the patient's companion in terms of biomedical ethics. METHODS: This was a descriptive study. Personal interviews were conducted via a structured questionnaire containing open-ended questions with the patients' companions. Thematic text analysis method was used to analyze the open-ended questions. The study was conducted at a University Research and Training Hospital in the Aegean Region of Turkey. RESULTS: A total of 118 patient companions participated in the study. These patient companions stayed with the patients because of their concerns about trusting the health care professionals in caring for the patients. During their stay, the companions encountered several problems, including staying in ward-type rooms and resting in a single armchair, as well as staying for a mean time span of 4 days, primarily for 24 consecutive hours in each day. Despite these conditions, most of the companions surprisingly declared their satisfaction with their stays. CONCLUSIONS: Patients' companions should be defined as bioethical subjects; more specifically, they should be defined as vulnerable subjects and should not be taken advantage of. The description of patient companions as a vulnerable group allows for the ethical evaluation of similar systems, such as those in Israel, Greece, Korea, and Iran, and could allow for the development of a common solution for these systems. Moreover, such a definition provides an important basis for social, ethical, or legal studies on the health care systems in all of these countries.

The impact of gender and academic achievement on the violation of academic integrity for medical faculty students, a descriptive cross-sectional survey study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to determine the characteristics of medical faculty students about violations of academic integrity. METHOD: From the whole population of the 572 students of the Mugla Sitki Koçman University Faculty of Medicine, 271 students participated voluntarily in a descriptive cross-sectional survey. Descriptive data were recorded in the survey and a five-point Likert-type instrument, namely the Tendency towards Academic Dishonesty Scale, was used as the data collection tool in the study. The scale included 22 items' means that are considered to evaluate "Tendency towards academic dishonesty" (TTAD) score. In addition, four subscales, namely "Tendency towards cheating", "Dishonesty in works such as assignments and projects", "Tendency towards dishonesty in research and reporting processes" and "Tendency towards citation dishonesty" scores were evaluated separately. RESULTS: Of the participants, 138 (53.3%) were male. TTAD scores were 2.15 ± 0.61, showing a slight tendency towards academic dishonesty, according to the scale. TTAD scores and standard deviations (SD) were 2.26 ± 0.65 and 2.04 ± 0.55 for men and women, respectively (P = 0.005). There was no difference in the TTAD scores for students whether they had read the ethics code. Significant differences were observed in the TTAD scores for students with gender, different academic achievements and in different academic years. However, when multivariate analysis was performed, the significance shown in the results disappeared. CONCLUSION: In our study, a slight tendency to academic dishonesty was found for medical faculty students and there were no differences between all of the recorded individual factors of students.

Determination of national midwifery ethical values and ethical codes: in Turkey.

It is important to define and practice ethical rules and codes for professionalisation. Several national and international associations have determined midwifery ethical codes. In Turkey, ethical rules and codes that would facilitate midwifery becoming professionalised have not yet been determined. This study was planned to contribute to the professionalisation of midwifery by determining national ethical values and codes. A total of 1067 Turkish midwives completed the survey. The most prevalent values of Turkish midwives were care for mother-child health, responsibility and professional adequacy. The preferred professional codes chosen by Turkish midwives were absence of conflicts of interest, respect for privacy, avoidance of deception, reporting of faulty practices, consideration of mothers and newborns as separate beings and prevention of harm. In conclusion, cultural values, beliefs and expectations of society cannot be underestimated, although the international professional values and codes of ethics contribute significantly to professionalisation of the midwifery profession.

Definition of the ethical values and ethics codes for Turkish midwifery: a focused group study in kocaeli.

BACKGROUND: The independent roles of midwives have not been properly defined, and midwifery ethical values and moral codes proper to Turkish culture have not been developed. The absence of legal regulations concerning midwifery has negatively affected midwifery in the process of professionalization. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify the professional values of midwifery in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A focus group was created with the participation of nine midwives working at two state hospitals and a university hospital that provide birth service for women in Kocaeli, which is the most important industrial city in Turkey. The opinions of the midwives on the characteristics that a good midwife should possess and the professional values that a good midwife should observe were collected via in-depth interviews. The interviews were recorded. A total of three meetings were held with the participants. Finally, the notes taken by the reporter during these interviews were rearranged, and the recordings were transcribed by the researchers. RESULTS: THE CHARACTERISTICS SUGGESTED BY THE PARTICIPANTS WERE CLASSIFIED INTO THREE CATEGORIES: professional, personal, and interpersonal. Professional competence, capacity to properly inform interested parties, trustworthiness, respect for individuals and human dignity, and empathy were the most commonly named characteristics. As for the professional values of midwifery, professional competence, trustworthiness, responsibility, maximum benefit, and protection of privacy were the most often identified. Midwives also reported that most of the difficulties they faced in the exercise of daily tasks concerned protecting the privacy of their patients as well as the integrity and prestige of the profession, achieving the maximum benefit and least harm for patients, and providing a just and equal service. CONCLUSIONS: The professional values were mentioned by participant midwives were similar to the values proposed by international professional organizations. But there were some differences perhaps due to cultural differences.

Personal and professional values grading among midwifery students.

The purpose of this study was to determine the professional and personal values among midwifery students in Turkey and to identify whether the years of study affected these values. A total of 192 participants were asked to prioritize 16 professional and 36 personal values. The relationship between the year of study and value ranking was analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test. The first three of the professional values were justice, equality, and human dignity. Equality ranked sixth among the personal terminal values, and it increased with the years of study. Of personal instrumental values, responsibility and cleanliness ranked second and fifth, which are of central importance for the profession of midwifery. However, the other two important values, privacy and preventing unnecessary suffering, ranked lower when the years of study increased, in other words when the students confront clinics. Since these values are important for midwifery, ethics courses should be given throughout the midwifery education to prepare students for the challenges they face in the clinical environment.