Ethics identifies with the moral issues governing the differences between what is wrong and what is right. Ethics expresses the norms resonating with agreeable behaviours and non-agreeable behaviours in the community.
Research shows that people learn ethics in schools, in homes, in religious places, and in other environmental social settings. Research ethics is characterised by the application of the ethical principles in scientific research. Shi (2007) argues that the considerations of ethics in research outcomes modernisations are critical in research findings and research project.
It has been noted that healthcare industry has a number of researches in form of research enquiries that are defined by the theories involved in scientific research. There have been concerns over the application of ethical standards in defining the qualitative approaches in research work (Shi, 2007).
There are diverse challenges faced by researchers in conducting the research practices in the scientific research, among them validation of results. Research is an expensive exercise and it is geared towards solving a particular problem, researchers in the recent decades has been faced with the challenges of funding research projects.
Research shows that ethics maintains quality of the research, reliability of research, safeguarding subject under research and maintaining objectivity in research work (Shi, 2007). It has been noted that research objectivity is enhanced through strict adherence of research procedures, research standards and research methods. Ethical principles in research work identifies with maintaining high levels of trust and honesty in the reporting and presentation of the data.
Ethical principles can also be enhanced through independent data analysis, independent interpretation of data and making sure that the data analysis has minimal errors. There are a number of other ethical models applied in research work identifying with validation of research through publications and consulting similar studies done by previous researchers on the same topic to make sure that the report is well inclusive, and not a mere repetition of work earlier researched on (Shi, 2007).
Researchers acquire information from various sources: there are primary sources and secondary sources of information. Technological advancement has made the transfer of information from one person to another person efficient and fast. World Wide Web (WWW) is a search platform that has enabled availability of internet.
The main challenges with the information from the internet is characterised by the data privacy, lost confidentiality, integrity of data, ethical issues and intellectual property issues. Internet sources of information are not always authentic (Shi, 2007).
Research funding may be obtained from the government, foundations, private industries and professional organisations. Funding of research work is considered an ethical issue. The authenticity of funds must be verified to give a clean way of the results and findings.
Funding of research work has a positive influence on the desired research outcomes (Shi, 2007). Some organisations support research work in favour of particular course, this has proved necessary to cite the sources of the money used in the research to discourage research projects politicking.
Ethics in healthcare is a complex subject; this is because the medical practitioners engage patients from all over the world with diverse schools of reasoning. Research shows that issues dealing with patients must be taken seriously since human life is a gift, and at the same time should not be taken for granted. The welfare of the patients must be enhancing to cultivate patient satisfaction. This is a practice valued in the healthcare industry (Fuchs, 2010).
Medical practitioners deal with circumstances and situations on daily basis that has a direct influence on the lives of people. This is the reason behind majority of the healthcare organisations in the United States being equipped with an ethics committee, procedures, policies and code of ethics to make sure that all the interests of the parties taking part are fully addressed.
It has been noted that healthcare management ethics calls for confidentiality, practising active prevention of diseases deemed transmittable, engaging in controlled marketing practices, enhancing authenticity and patient welfare safeguarding among other issues that most patients and healthcare practitioners take for granted.
Victor Fuchs in his article focussed on Health Care Reforms in the United States. The articles argue that the current technological changes call for reforms in the healthcare sector to conform to the global changes (Fuchs, 2010). There is a need to have a critical look at the four C’s identifying with Coverage, Control of costs, coordinated care and the Choice. Fuchs (2010) asserted that coordinated health care and the cost control are yet to be exploited.
Research indicates that the research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Blue Shield of California. The research was conducted as part of the FRESH (Focussed Research on Efficient Secure Health) Thinking research program and the SIEPR (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research) (Fuchs, 2010).
Ethics is a wide concept with diverse meanings, different people from different parts of the world has diverse concepts of ethics. There is a need to do more research on the basics of ethics to make researchers have a common ground on the ethical practices in research work. Research ethics revolves on trust; scientists trust the research of other researchers as valid and at the same time the society has the belief that the results are honest with high levels of accuracy and zero bias (Shi, 2007).
References
Fuchs, V. R. (2010). Health Care Reform. A Collection of Articles on U.S. Health Care Reform , 2-44.
Shi, L. (2007). Health Services Research Methods. New York: Delmar Cengage Learning. Web.