http://ijme.tums.ac.ir Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine - Journal articles for year 2011, Volume 4, Number 5 Yektaweb Collection - https://yektaweb.com en 2011/10/9 http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=153&sid=1&slc_lang=en Giasaddin Mansour Dashtaki Shirazi was a prominent scholar and philosopher in the post-Islamic Iran. Among the fields he was proficient and knowledgeable in, the least attention has been paid to him as an influential figure in medicine, and this has in turn led to his expertise in other sciences to be neglected as well. Among Dashtaki’s works two are on medicine, and there are also historic accounts of his hygiene behavior and adherence to medical recommendations. These are indicative of Dashtaki being an outstanding figure in medicine in spite of his involvement in other scientific and administrative endeavors. The present paper will employ a descriptive-analytical approach to investigate his influence on medicine and his medical treatise Ma’alem-o-Shafa. Based on the findings of this study, any research on the Iranian or Islamic medicine of the 10th century H.Q. would be incomplete without studying Dashtaki and Ma’alem-o-Shafa. It is therefore recommended that Ma’alem-o-Shafa be translated and published so that it can be used in research of this type. Ali akbar Jafari http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=154&sid=1&slc_lang=en Divine religions have adopted various stances regarding cloning, and the Jewish faith has likewise examined the issue and investigated both its classifications. The present paper is a case study of the viewpoints of Jewish scholars on both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. The results showed that regarding therapeutic cloning, Jewish scholars believe in three different viewpoints: impermissiblity, permissibility and necessity, while they only believe in the first two regarding reproductive cloning, and they present reasoning for their views. This was a library research based on books and articles in Farsi and other languages as well as online sources. Mohadeseh Moeinifar http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=155&sid=1&slc_lang=en Adherence to ethical standards in the medical profession is one of the fundamental principles of the traditional Iranian medicine, and its significance is reflected in the words and works of founders of this school of medicine. One particularly valuable source is the esteemed work by the Iranian scholar Hakim Seyed Mohammad Hussein Aghili Khorasani Shirazi entitled “Kholasat-Al-Hekmat”, which was written more than two centuries ago. The present paper is a descriptive library research on this work. One significant characteristic of this book is the author’s careful attention to details in clarifying the principles of medical ethics. Although the “four principles” approach to medical ethics is a relatively recent concept in modern medicine, it has been fastidiously expounded and evaluated in Iranian works on medicine. For young physicians and researchers, being familiar with such sources and their analysis and comparison based on principles of modern medical ethics is a clear indication of the humoral medicine being deep-rooted and ethics based. The present study aimed to investigate and analyze medical ethics as presented in Kholasat-Al-Hekmat. Mahdi Pasalar http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=156&sid=1&slc_lang=en Human cloning is one of the latest and most complicated developments in the field of medical and genetic sciences that could fulfill man’s dream of eternal life. Scientists’ achievements in this respect, however, have brought about many concerns for thinkers, particularly ethics scholars. Human and animal cloning have been examined from different angles, but one basic aspect of human cloning has received less attention from researchers and scientists, and that is the autonomy of the cloned person the reason is that gaining informed consent, which is one of the most important principles of medical ethics in human experiments, is impossible in the case of human clones. Free will lies at the core of human perfection and divine revelation, and one important issue that the present study concerns itself with is whether or not technologies such as cloning or embryonic genetic modification violate the autonomy of cloned persons. This paper attempted to look into such issues regarding human cloning through library research. Lila Nekooei Nejad http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=157&sid=1&slc_lang=en Attempts to promote medical ethics principles on the national level should be consistent with the needs, expectations of the target audience, social orientations and determination of priorities. The present study was conducted through distribution of a questionnaire containing twenty medical ethics topics, and thus the priorities of instructors, researchers and policy makers regarding medical ethics were determined on a national level. Through determination of medical ethics priorities in the country, the study aimed to encourage a scientific approach to the issues and challenges faced throughout the nation based on the opinions of thinkers of this field, and to help resolve each of those issues according to national priorities. The findings revealed ten priorities in the field of medical ethics nationwide: patients’ rights, doctor-patient relationship, justice in the distribution of health care resources, autonomy and informed consent, the financial relationship between doctor and patient, hospital ethics committees, ethical considerations in public health, strengthening and capacity building in teaching medical ethics, ethical considerations in medical education, and medical research ethics. Alireza Bagheri http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=158&sid=1&slc_lang=en One of the manifestations of patient autonomy in practice is gaining informed consent prior to any invasive procedure. In Iran, the process of obtaining informed consent to surgical procedures is currently limited to the patient signing a consent form that often does not offer specific information on the procedure, and patients are not given adequate time to read the form. In order to improve the present circumstances, authors of this study created information sheets specific to each class of surgical procedure, and performed an evaluation of the effectiveness of these sheets in increasing patient awareness and satisfaction. Handouts containing specialized information on various surgical procedures were distributed among 110 patients hospitalized to undergo elective surgeries in surgical wards 1, 3, 4 and 5 of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex and surgical ward 3 of Sina Hospital the patients received the handouts prior to procedures, and were free to use the information as they wished. These patients were then interviewed through an oral questionnaire after the procedure and at the closest time possible to their discharge. At a different time, 110 other patients in similar conditions and locality were interviewed after surgical operations and as close to being discharged as possible, but without receiving information sheets. The above-mentioned questionnaire contained essay type questions regarding patients’ information about their medical conditions and the required surgical procedures, and patients were also asked about their level of satisfaction with the information they had received. The mean score for patients’ overall knowledge in the intervention group was 48.8%, and the same score was 44.6% in the control group. Distribution of specific information on the surgical procedures among the patients in the intervention group did not have a significant effect on their overall knowledge (p = 0.140), and only raised their awareness of the side effects associated with the procedures (p  0.001). Similarly, patient satisfaction levels were 60.2% in the intervention group and 56.4% in the control group, and distribution of information sheets did not affect the overall satisfaction level of patients significantly (p = 0.166), and it only increased their satisfaction with the information they had received regarding their convalescence period after surgery (p = 0.033). Since distribution of specialized information sheets like the ones used in this study generally appears to be inadequate in increasing patient awareness and satisfaction, it is recommended that in the process of obtaining informed consent, physicians dedicate enough time to educate patients on their conditions and their different aspects rather than simply present them with a consent form. Fariba Asghari http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=159&sid=1&slc_lang=en Making decisions for recipients of health care while offering clinical care is an important part of nurses’ responsibilities. In order to ensure patient satisfaction, nurses are obligated to observe ethical standards in the decision-making process. This paper aimed to determine the effect of teaching professional ethical principles on ethical sensitivity in nurses’ decision-making. In this semi-empirical study, 80 Social Security nurses were selected through purposive sampling and were then randomly placed in two groups of 40 each, the intervention group and the control group. Research tool was the Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire for decision-making, the validity of which was assessed using content validity, and whose reliability was confirmed with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.83 for internal consistency. At first the ethical sensitivity in decision-making was evaluated in both groups, and then an educational workshop on nursing ethics was held for the intervention group every other week the workshop consisted of 4 three-hour sessions, and upon completion of this workshop, both groups filled in the questionnaire once more, and data were analyzed using SPSS software. There was no significant difference between the average ethical sensitivity in decision-making of the two groups before the intervention after the intervention, however, the difference was meaningful (P = 0.001). Moreover, the average ethical sensitivity in decision-making of the intervention group was significantly different after the intervention (P = 0.001). Based on the findings of this study, teaching nursing ethical principles has a positive effect on nurses’ ethical sensitivity in decision-making. It is therefore recommended that this educational program be offered to nursing students and health care staff. Mohammadali Hosseini http://journals.tums.ac.ir/ijme/browse.php?a_id=160&sid=1&slc_lang=en Medical Ethics is a branch of science that has received attention due to developments in medical treatments and technology as well as complex social transformations and involvement of social sciences, law and so on in medicine. The present paper attempted to perform an analysis and historiography of scientific publications in the field of medical ethics and their growth and development rate between the years 1990 and 2008. This study used scientometrics to examine scientific publications in the field of medical ethics between 1990 and 2008 in three bibliographic databases: The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). An evaluation of the nature of the documents showed that 5690 bibliographic items had been presented in fifteen different formats. The documents had all been published in 1289 journals by 3634 universities or higher education institutions, with the Harvard University in the lead. 10326 authors had composed articles during this period and made reference to a total of 109301 sources. The Journal of Medical Ethics had published the majority of works in the field. One major topic in this field is “medical ethics education and its necessity”, as medical policies and regulations are constantly changing in order to ensure patients’ rights. Consequently, a need is clearly felt for teaching medical ethics in order to offer medical care in an ethical and human manner, and to make difficult decisions concerning new technologies. Farideh Ossareh