Bioethics in clinical practice and research

Author: Salvador Mott Ronda, Doctor of Pharmacy and Director of the Official Online Master’s Degree in Bioethics at the International University of Valencia

The term health sciences includes a series of professions: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, etc. They have in common that they work directly with humans. It is clear that all these professionals need scientific knowledge that is achieved during their studies and subsequent practice of their profession, but this is not enough. All these professions, in addition to being a science, have a part of technical knowledge, that practical knowledge, but they also have a part of art that is understood as interpretation. Older people will listen to classical music.”Made according to art which accompanied as a last motto and adjudicative formula recipes, eg. And that’s it? No, there is still another dimension of the health professions, the ethical part, because in their whole practice, analyzes of facts are made and decisions are made based on value judgments. As the philosopher Edmund Pellegrino said, “Medicine is the most humanistic, the most artistic, and the most scientific of the human sciences.”

Nowadays, no one doubts the proper scientific and technical training of our health professionals, but the conflicts that emerge in practice and in clinical research make it necessary to have proper ethical training for professionals in this field. Many universities have incorporated bioethics studies into their health sciences curricula, but the variance of standards is very important, some as part of a related subject, others as a subject with few credits. It is increasingly necessary that this training be more complete.

For this reason, there have been master’s degree studies in bioethics, such as Official online master’s degree in bioethics She received her PhD from the International University of Valencia, which has the advantage of offering a humanistic bioethics vision, non-denominational and clinical focused, through an interdisciplinary approach ranging from the beginning to the end of life. This parameter is divided into several blocks:

• The first of them provides a philosophical, anthropological, and legal basis for bioethics, which is essential to contextualize and understand it.
• The second relates to bioethics in interdisciplinary clinical practice and, moreover, explains the work of ethics committees.
• The third deals with bioethical issues related to health research with humans, to avoid abuses such as those in the past.
• The last question addresses the major bioethical questions at the beginning and end of human life.
• Studies are complemented by a set of electives covering legal, environmental, and health aspects of bioethics.
• Finally, students are required to carry out an original research project at the end of the Master’s degree in which they develop in a practical way the acquired knowledge, under the guidance of a faculty member.

We encourage health science professionals to expand their training in bioethics in order to properly identify ethical dilemmas and be able to make informed and informed decisions with a solid foundation for achieving interventions of the best technical and human quality.