Quality improvement in general practice: enabling general practitioners to judge ethical dilemmas

Journal of Medical Ethics 36 (3):184-188 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Quality improvement (QI) is fundamental to maintaining high standards of health care. Significant debate exists concerning the necessity for an ethical approval system for those QI projects that push the boundaries, appearing more similar to research than QI. The authors discuss this issue identifying the core ethical issues in family medicine (FM), drawing upon the fundamental principles of medical ethics, including principles of autonomy, utility, justice and non-maleficence. Recent debate concerning the application of QI ethics boards is discussed with relevance to primary care and issues such as general practitioner (GP) intentions, the impact of QI on patients and the use of confidential patient data and the impact of dissemination. The authors conclude that a system of QI ethical approval leaves many issues unresolved and potentially creates several barriers to implementing QI. To ensure ethical QI work is generated within FM it is essential for GPs to learn about and engage in more ethical reflection so that they can better judge and resolve these issues

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Practical ethics for general practice.Wendy A. Rogers - 2004 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Annette J. Braunack-Mayer.
Passing the Ethical Litmus Test.Colin Higgins, Paul Lieber & Patti Poole - 2006 - Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society 17:15-17.
Doctors' dilemmas: moral conflict and medical care.Samuel Gorovitz - 1982 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Can designing and selling low-quality products be ethical?Willem Bakker & Michael C. Loui - 1997 - Science and Engineering Ethics 3 (2):153-170.
Nano-ethics.Wade L. Robison - 2004 - In Baird D. (ed.), Discovering the Nanoscale. Ios. pp. 285--299.
Forms of ethical thinking in therapeutic practice.Derek Hill & Caroline Jones (eds.) - 2003 - Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Ethical issues in the psychotherapies.Martin Lakin - 1988 - New York: Oxford University Press.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-09-13

Downloads
53 (#268,373)

6 months
7 (#175,814)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?