Designing and Testing a Professional Ethics Model in Physicians

Medical professional ethics is a structured system for solving ethical issues and providing appropriate solutions in the medical field. The purpose of this study was to design and test the pattern of professional ethics in physicians.

Reviewing previous studies, the researchers completed and finalized a preliminary list of human resources factors affecting professional ethics components using the Delphi method. For this purpose, 14 professional ethics experts were selected as the expert group using the non-probability sampling method and a combination of purposeful or judgmental and chain methods. In this model, the components were considered as (latent) variables that were measured by relevant indicators (explicit variables) and determined based on structural equation modeling of their impacts on students' professional ethics. Before fitting the model, using SPSSV22 statistical software, the assumption of the normality of data distribution was evaluated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov nonparametric test.

The findings were analyzed using a qualitative research method and the Delphi model. The findings of this study led to the identification of 11 components, including conscientiousness, job excellence, integrity and dignity, respect for others, kindness, commitment to social justice, time management, emotional intelligence, confidentiality, ethical knowledge, and moral sensitivity. Among these, time management, emotional intelligence, ethical knowledge and ethical sensitivity are the new achievements of this research. A new index was added to the privacy component, namely electronic patient records.

Appropriate fitting of the proposed model to the present research can be useful in formulating the ethical patterns and national plans at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education level.