A National Digital Platform Privileging Time Honoured Indigenous Knowledge
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$35,000.00
Summary
Our vision is for a modern digital ‘National Network’ of sustainable research partnerships that benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Using the Uluru Statement framework for community dialogues, we will develop a governance framework that is 'fit for purpose' and which safeguards Indigenous people against the risks of research. A governance framework reflecting community priorities will lead to a culturally safe digital platform and a shared vision for Indigenous research.
Ethics And Equity: Developing Ethical Guidance For Health Policy And Systems Research In Developing Countries
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,706.00
Summary
Health policy and systems research (HPSR) in developing countries is vital to achieving the Millennium Development goals, but ethical guidance specific to this field has not been developed. This project will identify the ethical obligations of funders, research institutions, and researchers undertaking HPSR in developing countries and will describe strategies for how these obligations might be upheld in practice.
Improving The Quantity, Quality, Relevance And Conduct Of Clinical Trials Of Medicines In Children.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$102,576.00
Summary
I am a specialist clinical trials pharmacist focussed on the challenges associated with the conduct of medicinal trials in children. My intention is to collect evidence to determine the best strategies for improving the quantity, quality and relevance of clinical trials in children. This will help to ensure safe and effective age-appropriate drug therapies for children and improve the health outcomes of our children.
An Ethical Analysis Of The Disclosure Of Surgeons' Performance Data To Patients Within The Informed Consent Process
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$148,937.00
Summary
For over a decade, hospitals in the American state of New York have been collecting information about the mortality rates of surgeons conducting Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts, and making this information available to patients. The United Kingdom is set to make these and other performance indicators on the ability of surgeons ('report cards') available from 2004. There are good reasons to think a similar system may be introduced in Australia in the near future. Patients can use the information co ....For over a decade, hospitals in the American state of New York have been collecting information about the mortality rates of surgeons conducting Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts, and making this information available to patients. The United Kingdom is set to make these and other performance indicators on the ability of surgeons ('report cards') available from 2004. There are good reasons to think a similar system may be introduced in Australia in the near future. Patients can use the information contained in report cards when deciding whether or not to consent to have a particular surgeon conduct an operation on them. Contemporary bioethicists stress the importance of a proper informed consent process in medicine. This is a process in which a doctor advises a patient of relevant information and ensures that the patient comprehends that information, before the patient consents to an operation. Currently report cards in America are publicly disseminated on the internet, however there is no systematic attempt to incorporate the information contained in report cards into the informed consent process. We do not know if patients understand the information they are given, or if they incorporate it into their decision making procedures appropriately. In our study we will consider how information that is contained in report cards could best be used in the informed consent process. We will keep in mind the importance of helping patients to make their own informed decisions to consent to operations, the importance of respecting the professional integrity of surgeons and the importance of providing the best possible standard of care for patients. The result of our study will be a revised model of the informed consent process that incorporates report cards in an ethically acceptable way.Read moreRead less
Patient non-compliance, such as the failure to take prescribed medicines, reduces the potential benefits of healthcare and represents a major cost to the public healthcare system. A financial incentive for patient compliance is one method which has been used to attempt to reduce this public health cost. However, the use of financial incentives has been viewed as unethical. This thesis aims to critically evaluate the main ethical objections to the use of such incentives.
Difficult Decisions: A Critical Analysis Of Consent To High-risk Medical Procedures
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$320,918.00
Summary
Consent is the cornerstone of ethics as applied to healthcare and is central to the relationship between healthcare and the law. Whilst no-one would deny the importance of seeking consent to high-risk medical procedures, much depends on the practical manner in which this is done. By studying consent for high-risk procedures with the participation of patients and their health care providers, we will both test the limits of consent and find practical ways to address those limits. In doing so, the ....Consent is the cornerstone of ethics as applied to healthcare and is central to the relationship between healthcare and the law. Whilst no-one would deny the importance of seeking consent to high-risk medical procedures, much depends on the practical manner in which this is done. By studying consent for high-risk procedures with the participation of patients and their health care providers, we will both test the limits of consent and find practical ways to address those limits. In doing so, the project will re-cast consent processes in a way that better accommodates the contingencies of clinical practice in high-risk settings in which patient autonomy is often compromised. Because this reformulation of consent will be grounded in the realities of high-risk clinical practice, our findings will reflect the needs and values of relevant stakeholders (patient and health professionals) and more likely to make a significant contribution to patient care and health policy. This project also addresses what the High Court of Australia has acknowledged as widespread weaknesses in the common formulation of consent in medicine. Finally this project, which operates in an important area of overlap between the law and medicine, will show how these disciplines can work jointly to serve the interests of all Australians, and Australian society.Read moreRead less
Ethical And Legal Issues Surrounding The Decision-making Process For Donating And Banking Umbilical Cord Blood
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$417,550.00
Summary
Altruistic donation of umbilical cord blood (UCB) is essential to provide a source of stem cells to treat various cancers and blood-immune disorders. However, parents can instead, bank UCB for personal use. This project will determine if parents are aware and understand differences between UCB donation and banking, as well as analysing the legal issues surrounding both processes. We aim to make recommendations to improve the decision-making process with the hope of increasing UCB donation rates.
The Ethics of Net Zero. This project aims to provide the first systematic study of key ethical issues connected to the adoption of net zero targets—pledges to make no net addition to the global atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. It expects to fill a significant knowledge gap, by addressing the full range of ethical questions raised by the adoption, promotion, and coordination of net zero targets by national and subnational climate actors. Expected outcomes of the project include deta ....The Ethics of Net Zero. This project aims to provide the first systematic study of key ethical issues connected to the adoption of net zero targets—pledges to make no net addition to the global atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. It expects to fill a significant knowledge gap, by addressing the full range of ethical questions raised by the adoption, promotion, and coordination of net zero targets by national and subnational climate actors. Expected outcomes of the project include detailed guidelines for determining ethically sound net zero policy and practice. The project should provide significant benefits to stakeholders in the government, corporate and NGO sectors, including best practice advice on the setting and implementation of net zero targets.Read moreRead less