Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Methods: We used thematic content analysis (de Groot, 1969) of
eleven focus groups conducted with physicians from five different
countries representing varying cultures (n= 15 Canadian; 9 Indian;
9 Irish; 9 Japanese; 11 Thai). Within our qualitative framework, we
compared each culture in terms of similarities and differences
evident in the use of the medical code.
Results: The following six themes emerged from the content
analysis:
Lack of Awareness (24%),
Personal and/or cultural codes dictate behaviour (22%),
Other codes have more influence (17%),
Medical code is useful (15%),
Marginal Impact (13%),
No Impact (9%).
Of those that were aware of their code of ethics, Irish physicians
appear to be the least influenced; Canadian and Thai physicians
seem to place a higher value on their respective code; and
Canadian and Indian physicians indicate that personal codes of
ethics are the strongest referent point for ethical behaviour. None
of these findings are consistent with the scores on Hofstede’s
(2001) IDV dimension that would have hypothesised that
individualistic countries, such as Canada and Ireland, would have
been more apt to reject codes than would collectivist countries,
such as Japan, India, and Thailand.
Conclusion: The over-riding theme among this sample of physicians
was that, regardless of culture, their medical code of ethics was not
an integral part of their decision-making behaviour. This may be a
function of the extent to which the code is part of their medical
training and/or the manner in which the codes are written and
understood by the practitioner. In order for codes of ethics to be
effective tools in educating physicians, further investigation is
needed to explore content and delivery of these potentially
important documents.
* Thanks to J. Mafukidze, M.Sc. , Faculty of Kinesiology & Health
Studies, University of Regina for her assistance in the collection and
partial analysis of the Thai data.
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