Reflections of Health Care Professionals During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Approach Towards Inclusiveness of Ethics in Medical Education

Abstract

Introduction: COVID19 pandemic has taught innumerable lessons of which ethical challenges have played a
major role. There are no strict guidelines for health care professionals concerning ethical practices in India, the
present study highlights the perception, challenges in this aspect by reflecting on the pandemic situation.
Objectives: 1.To identify and discuss the various challenges of ethical practice among health care professionals. 2.
To evaluate the perceptions of health professionals towards ethical practices.
Method: A mixed research was conducted to identify the challenges, evaluate the perception among health care
professionals while practicing ethics through a semi structured questionnaire.
Results: The mean age was 23.46 yrs. and majority 73% have faced challenges like ethical dilemmas during
the pandemic. Around 88% of the participants have never attended any training on bioethics. Majority (92%)
perceived the current teaching learning system inadequate for tackling dilemmatic situations. The ethical
reflections were analysed by thematic analysis with emergence of 8 themes which are - Informed consent, truth
telling, confidentiality, Communication, Doctor patient ratio, Leadership, Decision making, Conflict Management.
Conclusion: Majority encountered various new challenges and perceived the current practice of ethics to be
inadequate. Also recommends regular opportunities of ethical reflections, & continuous teaching, training
program for effective ethical practices by health care professionals.