Discussion1: What special ethical issues exist when the patient is a child under 18?
Nursing research is a moral duty since it forms the foundations for evidence-based care in the health care field. There exists various regulations and policies that have been formed to govern the conduct of research especially on human. One of the most common requirement is to have an ethical review of the research prior to the commencement of the research. Nonetheless, the most common sensitive form of human health research is that which entails children. Research in children possesses important challenges specifically with regard to informed consent and assent, potential conflicts of interest (COI) and vulnerability (Thompson et al, 2011).
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Therefore, the first aspect to be discussed is that of the factors that exists in child health research that largely render them vulnerable. Obviously, the legal inability to give consent is one of the biggest challenges that the child research faces. This is brought by the fact that the child is below the legally accepted age for one to be allowed to make independent consent. However, the nursing researchers ought to recognize that the children are developing autonomous decision making ability (Alspach, 2013, p72). Therefore, the researcher should be attentive so as to include children in the decision making process during the discussion of consent for research participation.
The other ethical aspect for this discussion is that of the principles that govern this type of research. Similar to the principles that guide research on adults, the principles of: respect for persons, Beneficence and justice also applies in the nursing researches involving children below the age of 18. Conclusively, it is also important for child health researchers to be fully aware of the potential conflicts of interest during their research in children health so as not have problems related to their role as caregivers and at the same time as researchers, as well as the general conflict of interest that is rooted in the potential academic and financial incentives (Thompson et al, 2011).
Discussion 2: Explain the role of the Institutional Review Board in your organization? Who sits on this Board? Are staff nurses aware of this Board and its activities?
The Institutional review Board (IRB) may be explained to be a committee that has been set up by a certain organisation for the purposes of reviewing, approving and regulating research conduct by its members, on its premises, or under its sponsorship (Siemionow & Gordon, 2010, 1237). It is a legal requirement that all the institutions that receive direct federal support for matters related to research, including, public schools, universities and hospitals to establish IRBs (Nieswiadomy, p28).
As a practicing nurse for alcohol and abuse centre for the state, I am well versed with most of the activities that goes on in our institutions IRB. Apart from the board chair and the vice chair and other staffs such as the compliance manager, a RN also sits in the board. The RN’s role in the board is to report to the committee member in matters pertaining to the activities in the healthcare institution to the state especially with regard to need for research or an ongoing research program. Apparently, the IRB is the most important body in our institution that has been bestowed with the role of safeguarding and protecting the patient rights. It aims to see that a researcher’s ethics has enabled them carry a project from its initial stages of identification up to the stage of the publication of the study.
It is evident that, IRB is a vital body in the field of health research. Through its continuing review, it has helped serve as a major safety net for human subjects in a research (Siemionow & Gordon, 2010, 1232). It is for this protective role that the IRB plays that has led to many individuals participating in research trials even with little knowledge about the risks that they may be involved in since they know that there is a body that has carefully analysed all the research possibilities and given its approval.
References
Alspach, J. G. (2013). Core curriculum for critical care nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Nieswiadomy. R. M. (2012). Foundations of Nursing Research. NJ: Pearson Education
Siemionow, M. Z., & Gordon, C. R. (2010). Institutional Review Board–Based
Recommendations for Medical Institutions Pursuing Protocol Approval for Facial Transplantation. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 126(4), 1232-1239.
Thompson, L. A., Black, E., Duff, W. P., Black, N. P., Saliba, H., & Dawson, K. (2011).
Protected health information on social networking sites: ethical and legal considerations. Journal of medical Internet research, 13(1).
