This study is a cross sectional self-administered mailed survey to address the type and frequency of ethical dilemmas faced by physicians, how they approach them, the types of ethical support they would find useful in addressing these ethical dilemmas, and their attitudes and practices in situations of scarce resources. The questionnaire has been designed, piloted, translated and back translated. The study sample will include 400 general practitioners and general internists from each of four European countries including England, Switzerland, Norway and Italy. the study has been amended to include 500 U.S. internists for comparison with the European sample. IRB approval has been attained at the NIH and in each of the participating countries for the original sample. IRB approval at the NIH for the additional U.S. sample has been obtained and OMB approval is being sought. Data collection is currently complete. Two manuscripts have been accepted for publication and several others are in preparation to report clinicians experiences of ethical dilemmas, their reports of rationing at the bedside, and their perceptions of rationing in their countries.
| Hurst, S A; Perrier, A; Pegoraro, R et al. (2007) Ethical difficulties in clinical practice: experiences of European doctors. J Med Ethics 33:51-7 |
| Hurst, Samia A; Forde, Reidun; Reiter-Theil, Stella et al. (2007) Physicians'views on resource availability and equity in four European health care systems. BMC Health Serv Res 7:137 |
| Hurst, Samia A; Reiter-Theil, Stella; Perrier, Arnaud et al. (2007) Physicians'access to ethics support services in four European countries. Health Care Anal 15:321-35 |
| Hurst, Samia A; Slowther, Anne-Marie; Forde, Reidun et al. (2006) Prevalence and determinants of physician bedside rationing: data from Europe. J Gen Intern Med 21:1138-43 |
