Defining quality in the ethical review process

✍ Scribed by John Tripp

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 112 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1087-8378
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1786(1997120)2:4<167::aid-qaj38>3.0.co;2-4

✦ Synopsis

Defining Quality in the Ethical

Review Process

Public confidence in the quality of the ethical review process of medical research is critical to a more general confidence in medical research itself. Systems for such review have developed rapidly in many countries in recent decades and decisions can be based on clear statements of principle, such as the Declaration of Helsinki, and national and international guidelines, such as those produced by the Council for International Organisations of Medical Sciences in association with the World Health Organisation. Ethical decisions, however, are often not clear cut, so that measurement of quality by standard methods of audit is insufficiently sensitive. This article identifies key components of an ideal system for ethical review and examines five areas of activity that could be used as pointers to quality and would be amenable to comparative reviews.