Ethical and Social Issues for Health Care Providers in the Intensive Care Unit during the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan : a Questionnaire Survey

Seino, Yusuke; Aizawa, Yayoi; Kogetsu, Atsushi et al.

Asian Bioethics Review, 2021, 14, 115-131

Number of Access:634（2025-08-28 14:11 Counts）

Identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11094/85466

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Title
Ethical and Social Issues for Health Care Providers in the Intensive Care Unit during the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan : a Questionnaire Survey
Creator
CreatorName
Seino, Yusuke
NRID
1000050772729 1000050772729
ORCID
0000-0002-4415-8307 0000-0002-4415-8307
researchmap permalink
7000022418 7000022418
Scopus Author ID
57210290382 57210290382
CreatorName
Aizawa, Yayoi
CreatorName
Kogetsu, Atsushi
NRID
1000010202011 1000010202011
ORCID
0000-0001-9006-9551 0000-0001-9006-9551
researchmap permalink
KatoOUMed KatoOUMed
Scopus Author ID
57349178000 57349178000
CreatorName
Kato, Kazuto
Subject
COVID-19
Moral distress
Clinical ethics
Ethical issues
Social issues
Intensive care unit
Japan
Description
Seino, Y., Aizawa, Y., Kogetsu, A. et al. Ethical and Social Issues for Health Care Providers in the Intensive Care Unit during the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: a Questionnaire Survey. ABR (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-021-00194-y.
Abstract
This questionnaire-based observational study was conducted in July 2020 with the aim of understanding the ethical and social issues faced by health care providers (HCPs) registered with the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine in intensive care units (ICUs) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. There were 200 questionnaire respondents, and we analyzed the responses of 189 members who had been involved in COVID-19 treatment in ICUs. The ethical and social issues that HCPs recognized during the pandemic were difficulties in the decision-making process with patients’ families, limitations of life-sustaining treatment, lack of palliative care, and inadequate mental support for patients’ families and HCPs. Regarding decision-making on issues of clinical ethics during the pandemic, more than half of the respondents thought they had failed to provide sufficient palliative care to patients and responded that they experienced moral distress. The free-text responses on moral distress revealed issues such as unusual treatment and care, restricted visits, challenging situations for HCPs, and psychological burden. Additionally, 38.1% of respondents experienced episodes of social prejudice or discrimination and 4.7% experienced a shortage of medical resources. Our study result shows that the moral distress of HCPs was caused by difficulties in patient-centered decision-making and insufficient medical care to patients and their families. These were caused mainly by a lack of communication due to the stronger implementation of infection control measures. We believe that it is important to address ethical and social issues during a pandemic in order to provide appropriate medical care and prevent burnout among HCPs.
Publisher
Springer
Source Title
Asian Bioethics Review
Volume (Issue)
14
Page
115-131
Date of Issued
2021-11-15
Language
English
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/11094/85466
PISSN
17938759
eISSN
17939453
Relation.isIdenticalTo
DOI (Publisher Version)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-021-00194-y
Access Rights
open access
CopyRight
© 2021 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
oaire:version
Version of Record
Category
学術雑誌論文 Journal Article