Intensive Care Residents' Views Regarding Ethical Issues and Practices.

BACKGROUND This study sought to understand the ethical issues encountered by medical residents during their residencies, evaluate the solutions proffered by them, and present their suggestions. MATERIAL AND METHODS A survey consisting of 32 questions, including demographic information, was developed and distributed to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) residents from December 2020 to January 2021. A total of 53 completed questionnaires were submitted to the researchers. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 26.0. RESULTS Of the participating residents who returned completed forms, 50.9% were male and 49.1% were female, with an overall mean age of 30.5±4.4 years. Most residents' views on ethical issues concerned themselves, the clinic, and patients/patient relatives. Responses showed a number of commonalities with the views of ICU physicians in other countries. Suggestions for resolving ethical issues solutions included instruction in medical ethics for all staff, increasing and strengthening pathways of communication both inside and outside of the clinics, regular inventory of medical supplies and assessment of equipment to prevent a shortage of resources, and the establishment of a hospital ethics committee. CONCLUSIONS As numerous and varied ethical issues were encountered in the participating ICUs, we propose the following: preparation of an ICU-specific guide for resolving ethical problems, clarification of rules based on legal regulations, determining a hierarchy of responsibilities, and ethics courses for all ICU staff. In addition, hospital managers should support ICU services from both a legal and ethical standpoint.

Challenges and Ethical Issues Related to COVID-19 Contact Tracing Teams in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine and evaluate the challenges and ethical issues faced by COVID-19 filiation (contact tracing) teams and report the experiences of team members. METHODS: This is a descriptive study conducted to evaluate the performance of contact tracing field teams established by the Ministry of Health to identify, refer, and follow-up persons who tested positive for COVID-19 and their contacts. Reports were collected from various Turkish medical associations, the Turkish Ministry of Health, online news sources, and online interviews published between 11 March 2020 and 18 April 2021. RESULTS: A total of 32 reports published by the Turkish Ministry of Health, various medical associations in Turkey, and the Turkish Academy of Science, together with a number of online media reports on issues involving contact tracing teams, were reviewed. While the activities of the teams were overall found to be of benefit during the pandemic, numerous factors negatively impacting their success were identified. These factors included insufficient social support, wherein the fundamental bioethical values of solidarity, responsibility, respect, and trust were not adopted on a societal level, as well as issues involving the teams themselves, such as lack of time to properly conduct their work, inadequate communication skills and/or personal issues. CONCLUSION: Studies conducted by the contact tracing teams were of vital importance in managing the pandemic. The teams were especially effective in reaching both educated and uneducated segments of the society, in diagnosing cases, and in informing the public regarding the pandemic. Evaluating the experiences of the contact tracing teams deployed in Turkey is of vital importance to ensure better preparation for any future pandemics.

Issues affecting health professionals during and after catastrophic earthquakes in Van-Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: To assess physical and psycho-social problems faced by health professionals, and to analyse the ethical, legal and triage dimensions of disaster medical services. METHODS: The descriptive study was conducted from November 2011 to March 2012 and comprised health professionals from two hospitals of Van, Turkey A specific questionnaire was designed and interviews were conducted face to face. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 430 health professionals who had experienced one or more earthquakes and were part of the study, 225(52.3%) were nurses and 205(47.7%) were doctors. There were 224(52%) women and 206(48%) men. Besides, 206(48) were below 31 years of age. Overall, 193(44.9%) participants experienced chaos, 83(19.3%) panic and fear, and 129(30%) despair. Only 20(4.7%) of them lived at home, while others lived in tents, containers, hospitals or cars during the emergency and continued to provide services despite social, economic and psychological problems. Triage was preferred by 339(78.8%) of the respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Problems of health professionals were multi-dimensional and addressing them would make service delivery more effective.

HEALTH PROFESSIONALS OF EMERGENCY SERVICE: AN EVALUATiON OF DISASTER MEDICINE AND ETHICALVALUES.

AIM: To obtain the opinions of health professionals' who work in emergency medical services on the application of basic attitudes like triage,ethics, legal rules; to popularize problems they have encountered or may experience while giving health services after natural disasters; and to develop further suggestions. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In order to evaluate health service problems, laws, triage and ethics applications, a questionnaire tool was formulated. The poll that was taken included 133 emergency service workers, with and without earthquake experiences. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with statistical significance set at p<0.001. The frequency distributions taken into account and chi square test were applied to understand the difference between the employees who experienced an earthquake and the employees who did not. FINDINGS: 57.7% of participants in the survey were males and 42.3% females. Their average age was 29.8 %. 16.8% of them worked in the university hospital, 77.4 % in a state hospital and 5.8% in private hospitals. 51.1% of the participants were doctors, 43.1% nurses and 5.8% emergency medical technicians. 48.2% of the participants had experienced earthquakes, 52.6% had not. 27% of them were consulted on triage, 372% on both triage and legal rules, 31.4% on triage, laws and ethics and 4.4% on triage and ethical principles. CONCLUSION: Results show that while ethical principles are less considered in medical services after natural disasters, triage and legal regulations play an essential role in resource allocation and medical service presentation. The results show that the inclusion of ethical training in natural disaster medicine education and its enhancement through regular rehearsals is essential.

Perceived social support levels among medical staff working at the medical faculty hospital of van following the 2011 Van-Turkey earthquake.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the "perceived social support levels" of the medical staff after the earthquake. The sample of this study is made up of 300 of the 490 medical staff of the Medical Faculty Hospital of Van. The data were collected using a survey that included the personal information and the "multidimensional perceived social support scale." It was observed that since the houses of the medical staff were being repaired or rebuilt, 55% of the medical staff were not residing in their homes. It was determined that 41.3% of the staff were residing in different cities away from their families. Among those, 52.4% was obliged to live apart from their families for more than 6 months. The medical staff whose families did not relocate, those who stayed with their spouses, and those who lived in containers were reported to have high social support.