A Critical Analysis Of Croatian Hospital Ethics Committees: Opportunity Or Bureaucratic Cul-De-Sac?
A Critical Analysis Of Croatian Hospital Ethics Committees: Opportunity Or Bureaucratic Cul-De-Sac?

Summary/Abstract: The objective of our investigation was to study the work and membership structure of the hospital ethics committees in Croatia. The main goals were examining the knowledge and attitudes of participants and everyday functioning of hospital ethics committees. Results show that the structure and composition of the hospital ethics committees are highly legalistic and formal. Most of them were established after the introduction of the legal provisions for ethics committees in Croatia. In the majority of cases, the number of members and their occupation are an exact replica of the structure of the committees required by law. Consistent with previous surveys, our data also shows that the main task of ethics committees in hospitals was an analysis of research protocols, thus neglecting the other functions important for a hospital ethics committee. The level of the members' knowledge is average but insufficient for the complicated tasks that they are supposed to perform.

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