Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in Canada
Bioethics experts played a key role in ensuring a coherent ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of healthcare, public health, and scientific research in Canada. In the province of Quebec, a group of academic and practicing bioethicists met periodically in the early months of the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Programmes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de Montréal
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Canadian Journal of Bioethics |
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| Online Access: | https://cjb-rcb.ca/index.php/cjb-rcb/article/view/512 |
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| author | Marilou Charron Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon Vincent Couture Bryn Williams-Jones Vardit Ravitsky Charles Dupras |
| author_facet | Marilou Charron Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon Vincent Couture Bryn Williams-Jones Vardit Ravitsky Charles Dupras |
| author_sort | Marilou Charron |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Bioethics experts played a key role in ensuring a coherent ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of healthcare, public health, and scientific research in Canada. In the province of Quebec, a group of academic and practicing bioethicists met periodically in the early months of the pandemic to discuss approaches and solutions to ethical dilemmas encountered during the crisis. These meetings created the opportunity for a national survey of bioethics practitioners from different fields. The survey, in which forty-five Canadian bioethics practitioners (clinical ethicists, ethicist members of REBs and government health policy ethicists, or any bioethicist practicing outside of academia) participated, explored their concerns, challenges and opportunities during the first wave of the pandemic, with the objective of informing bioethics research about the difficulties experienced by bioethicists “in the field”. Participants reported increased stress levels, increased workloads, and a greater proportion of their work being devoted to public health ethics. Most of their concerns focused on groups other than themselves, such as health professionals, patients, research participants, and people in vulnerable socio-economic situations. An optimism about the future of bioethics was noted due to an increased awareness of the importance of bioethics by the public and by health and research institutions.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:01:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-015bd39d2e0248caa23713ab70b7c147 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2561-4665 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:01:59Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Programmes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de Montréal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Canadian Journal of Bioethics |
| spelling | doaj.art-015bd39d2e0248caa23713ab70b7c1472022-12-22T02:59:24ZengProgrammes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de MontréalCanadian Journal of Bioethics2561-46652022-12-015410.7202/1094693arImpacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in CanadaMarilou Charron0Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon1Vincent Couture2Bryn Williams-Jones3Vardit Ravitsky4Charles Dupras5Programmes de bioéthique, Département de médecine sociale et préventive, École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaFaculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, CanadaFaculté des sciences infirmières, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, CanadaProgrammes de bioéthique, Département de médecine sociale et préventive, École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaProgrammes de bioéthique, Département de médecine sociale et préventive, École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaProgrammes de bioéthique, Département de médecine sociale et préventive, École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Bioethics experts played a key role in ensuring a coherent ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of healthcare, public health, and scientific research in Canada. In the province of Quebec, a group of academic and practicing bioethicists met periodically in the early months of the pandemic to discuss approaches and solutions to ethical dilemmas encountered during the crisis. These meetings created the opportunity for a national survey of bioethics practitioners from different fields. The survey, in which forty-five Canadian bioethics practitioners (clinical ethicists, ethicist members of REBs and government health policy ethicists, or any bioethicist practicing outside of academia) participated, explored their concerns, challenges and opportunities during the first wave of the pandemic, with the objective of informing bioethics research about the difficulties experienced by bioethicists “in the field”. Participants reported increased stress levels, increased workloads, and a greater proportion of their work being devoted to public health ethics. Most of their concerns focused on groups other than themselves, such as health professionals, patients, research participants, and people in vulnerable socio-economic situations. An optimism about the future of bioethics was noted due to an increased awareness of the importance of bioethics by the public and by health and research institutions. https://cjb-rcb.ca/index.php/cjb-rcb/article/view/512COVID-19BioethicsEthicsClinical ethicsResearch ethicspandemic ethics |
| spellingShingle | Marilou Charron Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon Vincent Couture Bryn Williams-Jones Vardit Ravitsky Charles Dupras Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in Canada Canadian Journal of Bioethics COVID-19 Bioethics Ethics Clinical ethics Research ethics pandemic ethics |
| title | Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in Canada |
| title_full | Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in Canada |
| title_fullStr | Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in Canada |
| title_short | Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work of Bioethicists in Canada |
| title_sort | impacts of the early covid 19 pandemic on the work of bioethicists in canada |
| topic | COVID-19 Bioethics Ethics Clinical ethics Research ethics pandemic ethics |
| url | https://cjb-rcb.ca/index.php/cjb-rcb/article/view/512 |
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