Ethical Conflicts and Educational Needs of Rehabilitation Clinicians in a Teaching Hospital in Malaysia

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To identify the ethical issues encountered by rehabilitation clinicians in routine clinical practice and explore their needs and preferences for ethics education. DESIGN: A descriptive survey study. SETTING: This study was conducted in an urban tertiary teaching hospital in a developing multicultural country. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 152 rehabilitation clinicians participated in the study, with a response rate of 44%. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: A total of 306 narratives were derived from the responses, generating 327 codes that were merged into 40 categories that were later collapsed into nine final themes. RESULTS: The most common theme was situations of conflict at 35.8% (n=117), followed by professionalism at 16.5% (n=54), and respect and dignity at 16% (n=52). Clinical topics were prioritized over administrative topics for ethics education. An interactive, interdisciplinary format of ethics education was preferred over self-learning modalities. CONCLUSIONS: Various broad ethical conflicts were identified among rehabilitation clinicians, and an ethics education program tailored to clinicians' preferences is warranted to amicably address the issues identified.