| Abstract
Background: There are numerous challenges in the consultation services of the Hospital Ethics Committees (HEC)
that can impact the means of providing healthcare. This review aimed to identify the main challenges in the application of
consultation services of the HEC and propose possible solutions.
Methods: This systematic review was conducted through searching electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus,
Science Direct, ProQuest, and Embase. Inclusion criteria included studies published in English language in a peerreviewed
journal, from 2000 to 2019 were identified, which clearly defined the design, method, and results of the
study. Study selections, quality assessments, data extraction, and analysis were completed by two researchers, independently.
The thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.
Results: The search yielded 1204 articles and 6 of these, included the analyses. Challenges were categorized into
9 themes: (a) personal views and believes in healthcare professionals, (b) sense of fear in the healthcare professionals,
(c) medical culture, (d) environmental factors, (e) managerial and structural factors, (f) characteristics of the HEC
members, (g) factors related to the HEC, (h) problematic process for HEC consultations, and (i) weakness of knowledge
about HEC. Accordingly, proposed solutions were organized according to five themes: reforming the HEC executive
processes, creating the appropriate communications, developing awareness about HEC, improving the competencies of
HEC members, and (e) receiving support from HEC consultations.
Conclusions: This review highlights that proposed solutions serve as examples of strategies, which attempt to solve
challenges related to the application of the consultation services of HEC by healthcare professionals.
Keywords
Consultation, ethics committee, medical ethics, clinical ethics, healthcare professionals, hospital |