Article Text
Abstract
Short-term humanitarian medical volunteerism has grown significantly among both clinicians and trainees over the past several years. Increasingly, both volunteers and their respective institutions have faced important challenges in regard to medical ethics and professional codes that should not be overlooked. We explore these potential concerns and their risk factors in three categories: ethical responsibilities in patient care, professional responsibility to communities and populations, and institutional responsibilities towards trainees. We discuss factors increasing the risk of harm to patients and communities, including inadequate preparation, the use of advanced technology and the translation of Western medicine, issues with clinical epidemiology and test utility, difficulties with the principles of justice and clinical justice, the lack of population-based medicine, sociopolitical effects of foreign aid, volunteer stress management, and need for sufficient trainee supervision. We review existing resources and offer suggestions for future skill-based training, organisational responsibilities, and ethical preparation.
- Clinical Ethics
- Applied and Professional Ethics
- Education for Health Care Professionals
- Public Health Ethics
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Linked Articles
- Concise argument
Read the full text or download the PDF:
Other content recommended for you
- Prehospital emergency care in a humanitarian environment: an overview of the ethical considerations
- Military physicians’ ethical experience and professional identity: a Canadian perspective
- MSF Paediatric Days: a step forward in operationalising ‘Humanitarian Paediatrics’
- Health research in humanitarian crises: an urgent global imperative
- Assessing barriers, opportunities and future directions in health information sharing in humanitarian contexts: a mixed-method study
- Improving the performance of community health workers in humanitarian emergencies: a realist evaluation protocol for the PIECES programme
- Dying individuals and suffering populations: applying a population-level bioethics lens to palliative care in humanitarian contexts: before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
- Impact of short-term reconstructive surgical missions: a systematic review
- Exploring the feasibility of establishing a core set of sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health indicators in humanitarian settings: a multimethods, multicountry qualitative study protocol
- Evaluating underpinning, complexity and implications of ethical situations in humanitarian operations: qualitative study through the lens of career humanitarian workers