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Biomedical subjects

M S Pritchard

Publications and source records attributed to M S Pritchard.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Responsible engineering: the importance of character and imagination.

Engineering Ethics literature tends to emphasize wrongdoing, its avoidance, or its prevention. It also tends to focus on identifiable events, especially those that involve unfortunate, sometimes disastrous consequences. This paper shifts attention to the positive in engineering practice; and, as a result, the need for addressing questions of character and imagination becomes apparent.

Character↗
PubMed2000

Service-learning and engineering ethics.

This paper explores ways in which service-learning programs can enhance ethics education in engineering. Service-learning programs combine volunteer work and academic study. The National Society for Professional Engineers (NSPE) and American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) codes of ethics explicitly encourage engineers to seek opportunities, beyond their work-related responsibilities, to serve their communities. Examples of how this can be encouraged as a part of the educational experiences of engineering students are explored.

Engineering↗
PubMed1996

Conflicts of interest: conceptual and normative issues.

Growing university-industry ties, particularly in biomedical areas, naturally raise concerns about conflicts of interest. Such conflicts are essentially problems in business and professional ethics. As of the fall of 1995, all institutions seeking funding from either the Public Health Service or the National Science Foundation have been required to maintain and enforce a written policy on conflicts of interest. The PHS and the NSF also require the disclosure of "significant" financial interests that might affect the research. Although the PHS and NSF requirements may prove helpful, they are not sufficient for monitoring the full range of serious conflicts of interest that can arise in university-industry relations. The PHS and the NSF are basically concerned with potential bias in the design, conduct, and reporting of research. Their disclosure requirements are restricted to financial considerations of $10,000 or more. However, bias in research can result from conflicts of interest when much less is at stake financially. Furthermore, it can arise at both individual and institutional levels. This article attempts to provide a conceptual and normative analysis of conflicts of interest that better enables us to understand the subtleties that can be involved. This article is one of three in this issue of Academic Medicine that deal with issues of conflict of interest in university-industry research relationships. These articles are discussed in an overview that precedes them.

Biomedical Research↗
PubMed1991

Ethical issues in health care institutions. Lesson one: Professional virtues.

In this first lesson of a five-part WMU/AHRA magazine course on ethics, Dr. Pritchard concentrates on the virtues or character traits that professionals should possess. "This is an important factor," the author suggests, "because abuse of power can easily result when individuals have specialized knowledge and expertise." Through the use of three case studies, Dr. Pritchard demonstrates that having virtuous professionals actually does affect the quality of health care provided.

Ethics, Institutional↗