Abstract

Ethics in medical research and practice has been at the forefront and a matter of debate in recent times. There have been suggestions for the inclusion of ethics as a subject in the medical graduate curriculum. This could well be due to the increasing commercialization of healthcare services throughout the world, and especially in the developing world including India.

1. Book Review

The book has seven chapters wherein chapter one deals with the aspects of ethics in medical practice and patient safety ¹. Because of the huge population size, India and other overpopulated countries have low numbers of medical graduates who can be used to address the healthcare needs of people. Therefore, the governments have increased the numbers of medical institutions that train and generate MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) graduates and MD (Doctor of Medicine) specialists. Unfortunately, many such graduates migrate to foreign countries and some prefer private medical practice rather than join the government and serve the people. Such motivation for monetary benefits has greatly impacted the healthcare system and has been instrumental in reducing the respect and confidence of people in the doctor fraternity.

This chapter highlights the wrongful deeds of private practitioners like performing sex determination, among other unethical practices. Also, this chapter stresses the significance of building public confidence in the medical persons, minimizing medical errors, and reminds basic principles of medical practice that includes respect for patient’s autonomy (patient will decide whether to get operated on, to participate in research, etc.), non-, maleficence (not harm the patients), respect the patient’s dignity, truthfulness, honesty in informed consent, and justice while providing treatment.

Chapter one also deals with the importance of accreditation of the hospital, practitioner licenses for medical personnel, and continuing medical education to keep abreast with the recent developments.

Chapter two reviews the historical aspects of the emergence of moral and ethical principles in medical practice and research. A comparison of the evolution of medieval and modern medical practices in terms of ethics is clearly depicted in this chapter. This chapter deals elaborately with the conduct of medical practitioners, the qualities of a medical teacher, and the ethical aspects in medical practice, research, and clinical trials.

Chapter three addresses the issue of ethical concerns in journal publications. The peer-review process during journal publications, plagiarism, and the emergence and proliferation of open access publications are other important things being elaborately discussed in this chapter. The impact factor journals, controversial publications, article publication charges, post-publication peer-reviewed journals, and other aspects of journal publications are extensively discussed in this chapter.

The journal publication, their historical aspects, indexation of journals, and the role of journal publications in the assessment of academic excellence are presented in chapter four. This chapter elaborates on the role played by the prestigious societies like the royal societies, London, in the publication of scientific communications from scientists throughout the world. Also, it discusses how the journal publications have metamorphosed from the subscription-based model to the present online and open access publications.

Chapter four delineates the present and past journal indexation agencies and the procedures they follow to index a journal. Also, this chapter elaborates on the aspects of journal impact factors that greatly influence the scientists during the journal selection before submission and publication. This chapter also tries to convey to the readers the fact that indexation does not guarantee the quality of a research publication. It also tries to project the negative impact of publication for academic promotions in academia.

Also, chapter four elaborates on the aspects of researcher assessment based on the H-index (Hirsch index), wherein the author citations are taken into consideration to understand his/her publication impact. The issues of authorship in journal publications, research community platforms like the ResearchGate, ReseracherID, the ORCID ID, Kudos, and others are discussed in this chapter.

Chapter five presents the aspects of mindset among medical teachers and learners. It elaborates on the qualities of a good medical teacher and learners. Chapter six envisages the importance of chalk and board teaching of the subject biochemistry in the era of medical technologies and the availability of improved teaching methods/techniques like PowerPoint presentations, videos, and others.

Chapter seven presents the importance of problem-based learning concerning the subject microbiology and its effect on the subject understanding and retention among medical undergraduate students.

Overall, the readers of this book will benefit greatly and develop a basic knowledge of the aspects of ethics in medical education, research, practice, journal publications, indexing, research community platforms, among others.

References