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.