Designing and psychometric evaluation of pharmacists' attitude toward ethical challenges questionnaire in pharmacy practice: A mixed‑method study.

Purpose: Knowledge advancement exposes the pharmacists to new ethical and professional challenges in providing pharmaceutical care. The pharmacist's attitude towards the ethical challenges of pharmacy practice could be of great help in assessing pharmacist's ethical sensitivity. This study aimed to design a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring pharmacists' attitudes.

Priority-setting for early access to COVID-19 vaccines in Islamic Republic of Iran.

Background: Priority-setting for early access to vaccines during a pandemic optimizes the impact of vaccine rollout, however, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have little experience in policymaking on this. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the national clinical ethics committee developed a policy for early access to COVID-19 vaccines with support from the national committee on COVID-19 vaccine.

Aims: This paper reports the process and results of a national COVID-19 vaccine priority-setting in the Islamic Republic of Iran and discusses its ethical and cultural aspects.

A dialog on common morality in medical ethics in a pluralist setting in Iran: a qualitative content analysis.

The concept of common morality is fundamental in medical ethics, and lack of universal content and characteristics of common morality is a product of its multifaceted nature. This study aimed to identify the ideas and experiences of academic faculties regarding common morality in a pluralistic setting to promote conceptual knowledge and strengthen moral reasoning and ethical decision-making. The study was conducted using a qualitative method, employing semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirteen faculty members who were selected purposively.

The experiences of psychiatric patients, their caregivers and companions in upholding patient dignity during hospitalization: A qualitative study.

Introduction: The quality of care and patient satisfaction is closely linked with dignity, which is a crucial component of therapy and care. However, there is very little study on dignity in the context of mental health care. Planning for ongoing patient care might benefit from an understanding of the notion of dignity by exploring the experiences of patients, caregivers and companions of patients who have a history of hospitalization in mental health institutions.

Barriers of health equity in the Iranian health system from the medical ethics viewpoint.

In order to lessen health inequalities, the obstacles to health equity will need to be identified. This study aimed at investigating the barriers to access to health-care services from the medical ethics point of view. Data were collected through a qualitative study by performing semi-structured interviews.

The ethical attitude of dentists scale: development and psychometric properties.

One critical tactic that leads to a better understanding of the ethical status of dentists is to assess their ethical attitude by using an appropriate scale. This study aimed to design and evaluate the validity and reliability of the ethical attitude of dentists scale (EADS). This study was conducted based on a mixed-method design.

Developing a professional guideline for the use of cyberspace by health-care professionals in Iran: a mixed methods study.

The present study aimed to compile and develop a professional guideline for health-care providers in Iran regarding cyberspace usage. This was a mixed-methods study, conducted in three phases. In the first phase, the principles of ethics in cyberspace were collected through a review of the literature and available documents, and were then subjected to content analysis.

Ethics Education in Medical Sciences; A National Descriptive Survey.

Historically, teaching medical ethics was always an important educational objective; however, the educational strategies to fulfill this goal varied in different times and areas. In the past two decades, teaching ethics has become an important part of the core curriculum of medical sciences in IRAN; however, ethics is relatively a newcomer to the undergraduate curriculum of medical sciences. This study aimed to evaluate the current status of teaching ethics in medical sciences in Iran.

The Association of Coronary Artery Calcium Score and Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The association between osteoporosis, a common metabolic bone disorder, and atherosclerosis has been reported in different studies. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between the coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and bone mineral density (BMD) at different sites and bone biomarkers in postmenopausal women.

Methods: A total of 184 participants were enrolled in this study.

COVID-19 vaccination in children as a global dilemma through an ethical lens: A retrospective review.

Background And Aims: COVID-19 pandemic led to a need to rapidly vaccinate as many people as possible. Children are an important part of the population with different characteristics which vaccinating them is a matter of great importance as it should be decided considering all aspects and ethics. Here, we present different aspects of COVID vaccination in children including the potential challenges.

Educational content of professional ethics in postgraduate dental education.

Purpose: Inclusion of proper educational content with respect to professional ethics in dental curricula is an important step to achieve objectives of ethics education especially in postgraduate programs when the time and opportunities for explicit instruction of ethics are limited. This study aimed to find and discuss the topics of ethics and professionalism for dental postgraduate programs.

Methods: A modified Delphi survey of experts' opinions with three rounds was conducted to establish a consensus on the need to teach professional ethics topics.

COVID-19 anti-vaccine attitude and hesitancy.

Unlabelled: High vaccination rates are required around the world to create herd immunity and terminate the current COVID-19 pandemic growth. With the steady rise in COVID-19 vaccine supplies, hesitancy and rejection to be vaccinated has become a problem worldwide for large vaccine coverage. Understanding the causes of vaccine avoidance or hesitancy can help to increase vaccination intentions in the general population.

COVID-19 related stigma among the general population in Iran.

Background: COVID-19 related stigma has been identified as a critical issue since the beginning of the pandemic. We developed a valid and reliable questionnaire to measure COVID-19 related enacted stigma, inflicted by the non-infected general population. We applied the questionnaire to measure COVID-19 related enacted stigma among Tehran citizens from 27 to 30 September 2020.

Media codes of ethics for health professionals and media professionals: a qualitative study.

Media is an opportunity for health professionals; however, it is not free of threats. Fixing the threats requires professional systematization through developing practical guidelines, which brings us to the goal this study was designed to achieve. The study was conducted qualitatively through literature review, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group discussion with health and media experts, as a result of which 486 codes were extracted and classified into 4 groups.

Challenges of the Medical Ethics PhD curriculum in Iran: A qualitative study.

Background: Bioethics is the foundation of medical practices, and can be applied in the different levels of medicine. In Iran, Medical Ethics started to be taught in the form of PhD course in Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in 2007. Although many aspects of this plan are successfully implemented, some deficits also are frequently pointed out by many professors and students.

Evaluating the association between amino acid and acylcarnitine profiles and different levels of coronary artery disease risk in postmenopausal women using targeted metabolomics technique.

Objectives: Postmenopausal women are at increased risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD). Metabolomic approaches aim at discovering more helpful biomarkers of CAD to reduce the disease burden in the future. Here, we intend to find potential blood biomarkers, amino acids, and acylcarnitines in postmenopausal women with different severity of CAD by using high-throughput methods.

Conflicts and Challenges of Truth-Telling in Dentistry: A Case-Based Ethical Analysis.

The basis of truth-telling is respecting the autonomy of patients and developing an ability to make informed decisions with valid consent. The purpose of this study was to ethically analyze the conflicts about truth-telling in dentistry. This case analysis focused on the issues of truth-telling in medicine and dentistry.

Circulating amino acids and acylcarnitines correlated with different CAC score ranges in diabetic postmenopausal women using LC-MS/MS based metabolomics approach.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) and its cardiovascular disease (CVD) complication are among the most frequent causes of death worldwide. However, the metabolites linking up diabetes and CVD are less understood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate serum acylcarnitines and amino acids in postmenopausal women suffering from diabetes with different severity of CVD and compared them with healthy controls.

Practicing patients' rights in Iran: a review of evidence.

Protection of patients' rights is critical in improving healthcare quality, and hence this study aimed at reviewing patient rights' practices in healthcare organizations of Iran. Using systematic search, this review was conducted based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). Several keywords, including "patient rights", "patient bills of rights" and "patients rights' charter" were searched bilingually in the databases of SID, Magiran, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science from 2010 to 2021, and then, following a three-tier screening using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklists, 76 articles were extracted.

Developing a comprehensive tool to assess professional attitude among physicians and medical students.

It appears that up until now, no comprehensive tool has been developed to assess medical students' attitudes toward the different dimensions of professionalism. The present study aimed to develop a comprehensive quantitative tool to evaluate medical students' attitudes toward professionalism. This study consisted of two phases: The first phase was item generation and questionnaire design based on literature review and a qualitative survey.

Initial drafting of telemedicine's code of ethics through a stakeholders' participatory process.

Telemedicine can improve access to healthcare services; however, it has raised ethical concerns demanding special considerations. This study aimed at developing the codes of ethics for telemedicine, and hence several approved national and international ethical guidelines related to telemedicine practice were reviewed, and 48 semi-structured interviews were conducted with medical ethics and medical informatics experts as well as with physicians and patients who had telemedicine experiences. Content analysis was then performed on the interviews' transcripts and a draft on code of ethics was prepared, which was further reviewed by the experts in the focus group meetings to reach a consensus on the final document.

The second strategic plan of medical ethics: a national report.

Medical ethics faces several challenges in different aspects of education, research, and treatment in medicine and healthcare practice. Design and implementation of a national strategic plan can pave the way for the development of a roadmap in various countries to strengthen ethics and address these challenges. To create a comprehensive plan compatible with the Iranian healthcare system, a multidisciplinary team of main stakeholders compiled a national strategic plan of medical ethics following several focus group discussion sessions and two workshops (2014-2017).