BMJ  2005;330:472-473 (26 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7489.472

Commentary

Research ethics committees deserve support

¹ South West Multicentre Research Ethics Committee, Lescaze Offices, Dartington TQ9 6JE jialexander@macunlimited.net

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I agree with Wade that audit and certain kinds of research have similarities in purpose, structure, and ethics and that audit is not reviewed within the same strict ethical guidelines.¹ However, this does not indicate that "research and audit cannot be distinguished." The definitions and differences have been published.^{2 3} Audit and research surveys raise similar issues regarding validity, confidentiality, inconvenience, and the revelation of unacceptable practice, but the potential ethical problems are less than for, say, trials of medicines. Both audit and surveys merit a thorough but possibly truncated review.

Wade says that the decision of an ethics committee should not be accepted without question because the decisions of committees may vary. A research ethics committee is formed of medical, paramedical, and lay representatives, including pharmacists and statisticians, men and women. It considers the conflicting ethical interests of, say, the goal of the research, the risks and potential benefits, the . . . [Full text of this article]

-->
CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Ethics, audit, and research: all shades of grey

Derick T Wade
BMJ 2005 330: 468-471. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Abbasi, K., Heath, I. (2005). Ethics review of research and audit. BMJ 330: 431-432 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Ethics of tissue retention

Roger A Fisken
bmj.com, 28 Feb 2005 [Full text]

The scandal of un-researched assertions

Ivor T Rowlands
bmj.com, 14 Mar 2005 [Full text]

Re: The scandal of un-researched assertions

Mark Struthers
bmj.com, 15 Mar 2005 [Full text]

The scandal of assertions made under parliamentary privilege

Brian Morgan
bmj.com, 17 Mar 2005 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more here>> and here>>