A vital tool for ensuring and improving quality in healthcare is clinical guidelines. Guidelines are used to support the clinicians’ memory and evidence-based decision-making, as well as to guide the choice of investigations and treatments toward the most cost-efficient alternatives. Increased control over healthcare costs is also given higher priority as a larger proportion of […]
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As patients, we are used to providing samples so that the physician can make a diagnosis and prognosis and choose treatment. But it is becoming more common for physicians to also order genomic tests in order to make the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment even more individualized. Even common diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and […]
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Caring for children with cancer involves more than just medical cancer treatment. Nurses are responsible for a wide range of nursing tasks. They discuss the disease and treatment with children and parents, monitor children’s nutritional needs, give pain treatment, insert catheters, care for wounds and much more. These nursing tasks are associated with varying degrees […]
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Humans are good at solving problems. But solutions also cause unforeseen problems. The latter problems can be more difficult to understand because they are so close to us: we do not see how we ourselves create them through our solutions. A person who feels that no one smiles at her may be unaware of how […]
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Perhaps I should start by mentioning that I am not an expert on Confucius but find him inspiring. This post just expresses that inspiration, nothing else. Given how conflicts are constantly recreated, everywhere and in all areas, one might wonder if we can ever change by seeing our mistakes. We have mastered so much through […]
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Nurses who choose to pursue a doctorate and conduct research in the nursing and health sciences contribute greatly to the development of healthcare: the dissertation projects are often collaborations with healthcare. However, doctoral education in the field contains challenges for both doctoral students and their supervisors. One challenge is that many combine research with part-time […]
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Reliable information on medicine safety during breastfeeding is lacking for many medications. In order to avoid the risk of harming the baby, mothers taking medication for various diseases may be advised by their doctor to discontinue the medication during breastfeeding (or the woman herself may choose to discontinue). Alternatively, the woman may be advised to […]
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To be an ethicist and philosopher is to be an advocate for time: “Wait, we need time to think this through.” This idea of letting things take their time rarely gains traction in society. It starts already in school, where the focus is often on being able to calculate quickly and recite as many words […]
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A fascinating paper by Fredrik Andersen, Rani Lill Anjum, and Elena Rocca, “Philosophical bias is the one bias that science cannot avoid,” reminds us of something fundamental, but often forgotten, about the nature of scientific inquiry. Every scientist, whether they realize it or not, operates with fundamental assumptions about causality, determinism, reductionism, and the nature […]
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Debates about the possibility that artificial systems can develop the capacity for subjective experiences are becoming increasingly common. Indeed, the topic is fascinating and the discussion is gaining interest also from the public. Yet the risk of ideological and imaginative rather than scientific and rational reflections is quite high. Several factors make the idea of […]
Continue readingTHE ETHICS BLOG
A research blog from the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB)
We write for researchers, healthcare staff, officials, politicians, patient organisations and anyone interested in ethics.
We comment on the research ethics and bioethics debate and discuss our own research. We address issues from current debates in the research community and in the press.
MEET THE EDITOR
Pär Segerdahl is editor of the Ethics Blog and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics.