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Response to commentaries: ethical preparedness in genomic medicine—how NHS clinical scientists navigate ethical issues
  1. Kate Sahan1,
  2. Kate Lyle2,3
  1. 1 Ethox Centre, University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford, UK
  2. 2 University of Southampton Clinical Ethics Law and Society, Southampton, UK
  3. 3 Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Kate Sahan, Ethox Centre, University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford, UK; kate.sahan{at}ethox.ox.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2024-110146

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    We read with great interest the commentaries submitted in response to our paper about clinical scientists and the role of ethical preparedness1. The responses raised some important themes that intersect with those discussed in our paper, and we are grateful for the opportunity to expand on them.

    Pruski2 highlights the importance of ethics education for clinical scientists, noting insufficient provision of such teaching within the clinical science profession. This gap means that scientists completing higher specialist training, who now encounter more complex ethical challenges, are not benefitting from equivalent ethics education standards enjoyed by their counterparts in medical professions. We agree that clinical scientists deserve access to quality education in ethics in order to develop their skills in this area. Alongside a formal element to education, we see ethical preparedness (EP) as advocating for more informal education opportunities. This can be facilitated through the encouragement and creation of space (both physical and metaphorical) to discuss ethical issues as they arise in practice and explore potential scenarios in a supportive and judgement-free environment. Cultivating such an environment plays is crucial to develop professional skills in navigating ethical challenges, promoting a greater sense of collective responsibility and capability to do justice to ethical issues encountered.

    Van Steijvoort et al 3 draw …

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    Footnotes

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer-reviewed.

    • ↵Carley H. How can we foster situated ethical decision-making in Clinical Genetic practice? MSc thesis available on request.

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