Five Coffin Nails to Informed Consent: An Autoethnography of Suffering Complications in Breastfeeding.

This autoethnography describes an illness episode caused by breastfeeding complications. It focuses on informed consent processes accompanying this illness episode. Informed consent is a cornerstone of ethical medical practice and has to be obtained before a medical intervention can legally be implemented.

Having a Break or Being Imprisoned: Influence of Subjective Interpretations of Quarantine and Isolation on Boredom.

Boredom has been identified as one of the greatest psychological challenges when staying at home during quarantine and isolation. However, this does not mean that the situation necessarily causes boredom. On the basis of 13 explorative interviews with bored and non-bored persons who have been under quarantine or in isolation, we explain why boredom is related to a subjective interpretation process rather than being a direct consequence of the objective situation.

Stakeholder engagement to ensure the sustainability of biobanks: a survey of potential users of biobank services.

Biobanks are important infrastructures facilitating biomedical research. After a decade of rolling out such infrastructures, a shift in attention to the sustainability of biobanks could be observed in recent years. In this regard, an increase in the as yet relatively low utilisation rates of biobanks has been formulated as a goal.

Evaluating the German Biobank Node as Coordinating Institution of the German Biobank Alliance: Engaging with Stakeholders via Survey Research.

The German Biobank Node (GBN) is the central hub for German biobank activities and coordinates the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) to which 11 biobank sites in Germany belong. GBN, in cooperation with designated members of GBA, has developed various services and products for the German biobank community. To ensure that services and products are well aligned with the needs and interests of relevant stakeholders, GBN actively engages with its diverse stakeholder groups through different methods.

[Consulting or engaging? The role of stakeholders in health research. A conference report by the organizers].

Increasingly, researchers are required to engage stakeholders in health-related research projects. "Stakeholder" in this context are those people who may be directly or indirectly affected by the planned research or the research object. This could be, for example, patients, relatives, and health personnel, but also political decision-makers.

Health Technology Assessment of Public Health Interventions Published 2012 to 2016: An Analysis of Characteristics and Comparison of Methods.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the methodological characteristics and compare the assessment methods applied in health technology assessments (HTAs) of public health interventions (PHIs).

Methods: We defined a PHI as a population-based intervention on health promotion or for primary prevention of chronic or nonchronic diseases. HTAs on PHIs were identified by systematically searching the Web pages of members of international HTA networks.

Position Statement from the German Biobank Alliance on the Cooperation Between Academic Biobanks and Industry Partners.

Under the umbrella of the German Biobank Node (GBN), 11 biobanks and two IT development centers are funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to work together in the German Biobank Alliance (GBA). Their common aim is to make existing biomaterials hosted by different biobanks nationally and internationally available for biomedical research. This position article reflects and summarizes contributions and comments made during a GBA workshop, on the cooperation between academic biobanks and pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies that took place in Leipzig on the 21st of June 2018.

Health technology assessment of public health interventions: an analysis of characteristics and comparison of methods-study protocol.

Background: Conducting a health technology assessment (HTA) of public health interventions (PHIs) poses some challenges. PHIs are often complex interventions, which affect the number and degree of interactions of the aspects to be assessed. Randomized controlled trials on PHIs are rare as they are difficult to conduct because of ethical or feasibility issues.

Beyond Research Ethics: Novel Approaches of 3 Major Public Health Institutions to Provide Ethics Input on Public Health Practice Activities.

Public health institutions increasingly realize the importance of creating a culture in their organizations that values ethics. When developing strategies to strengthen ethics, institutions will have to take into account that while public health research projects typically undergo thorough ethics review, activities considered public health practice may not be subjected to similar oversight. This approach, based on a research-practice dichotomy, is increasingly being criticized as it does not adequately identify and manage ethically relevant risks to those affected by nonresearch activities.

Medical professionalism of foreign-born and foreign-trained physicians under close scrutiny: A qualitative study with stakeholders in Germany.

Hospitals in Germany employ increasing numbers of foreign-born and foreign-trained (FB&FT) physicians. Studies have investigated how FB&FT physicians experience their professional integration into the German healthcare system, however, the perspectives of stakeholders working with and shaping the work experiences of FB&FT physicians in German hospitals have so far been neglected. This study explores relevant stakeholders' opinions and attitudes towards FB&FT physicians-which likely influence how these physicians settle in-and how these opinions were formed.

Rapid qualitative review of ethical issues surrounding healthcare for pregnant women or women of reproductive age in epidemic outbreaks.

This article describes, categorizes, and discusses the results of a rapid literature review aiming to provide an overview of the ethical issues and corresponding solutions surrounding pregnancies in epidemic outbreaks. The review was commissioned by the World Health Organization to inform responses to the Zika outbreak that began in 2015. Due to the urgency of the response efforts that needed to be informed by the literature search, a rapid qualitative review of the literature published in PubMed was conducted.

Ethical issues in public health surveillance: a systematic qualitative review.

Background: Public health surveillance is not ethically neutral and yet, ethics guidance and training for surveillance programmes is sparse. Development of ethics guidance should be based on comprehensive and transparently derived overviews of ethical issues and arguments. However, existing overviews on surveillance ethics are limited in scope and in how transparently they derived their results.

Difficulties experienced by migrant physicians working in German hospitals: a qualitative interview study.

Background: With Germany facing a shortage of doctors, hospitals have been increasingly recruiting physicians from abroad. Studies in other countries have shown that migrant physicians experience various difficulties in their work, which might impact the quality of patient care, physician job satisfaction, and, accordingly, retention. The experiences of migrant doctors in Germany have not been systematically studied so far and will likely differ from experiences migrant physicians make in other contexts.

Does facilitated Advance Care Planning reduce the costs of care near the end of life? Systematic review and ethical considerations.

Background: While there is increasing evidence that Advance Care Planning has the potential to strengthen patient autonomy and improve quality of care near the end of life, it remains unclear whether it could also reduce net costs of care.

Aim: This study aims to describe the cost implications of Advance Care Planning programmes and discusses ethical conflicts arising in this context.

Design: We conducted a systematic review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement.

What is personalized medicine: sharpening a vague term based on a systematic literature review.

Background: Recently, individualized or personalized medicine (PM) has become a buzz word in the academic as well as public debate surrounding health care. However, PM lacks a clear definition and is open to interpretation. This conceptual vagueness complicates public discourse on chances, risks and limits of PM.

Regulatory space and the contextual mediation of common functional pressures: analyzing the factors that led to the German Efficiency Frontier approach.

There are no automatic links between the functional advantages and pressures associated with delegation to independent agencies for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and their emergence in national regulatory spaces. We argue that the rise of these organizations is mediated by contextual factors, which must be explained. Accordingly, we analyze the German 'regulatory space' for health policy decision-making, identifying contextual factors relevant to the adoption of the Efficiency Frontier approach.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of an additional birth dose of Hepatitis B vaccine to prevent perinatal transmission in a medical setting in Mozambique.

This study is the first to assess the cost-effectiveness of an additional birth dose of Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine administered by professional birth attendants in medical settings in a sub-Saharan country (Mozambique). The WHO has recommended the birth dose to prevent perinatal transmission of HBV. A Markov model was constructed to analyse the costs and effects associated with avoiding perinatal transmission of HBV through a birth dose vaccination in addition to the existing vaccination schedule in Mozambique.