Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 15;11(2):e38745.
doi: 10.2196/38745.

Examining how Ethics in Relation to Health Technology is Described in the Research Literature: Scoping Review

Emilie Steerling #  1 , Rebecca Houston #  2 , Luke J Gietzen  2 , Sarah J Ogilvie  2 , Hans-Peter de Ruiter  2 , Jens M Nygren  1
Affiliations

Examining how Ethics in Relation to Health Technology is Described in the Research Literature: Scoping Review

Emilie Steerling et al. Interact J Med Res. .

Abstract

Background: Given the increased use of technology in health care, both in extent and application, the importance of understanding the ethical implications of new health technologies increases. Profound insight into the possible ethical implications of new health technologies enhances the research and development of such technologies and the likelihood of eventual successful implementation in clinical practice.

Objective: This study aimed to gain an understanding of how and if researchers focused on health technologies describe the actual or possible ethical aspects of their research findings.

Methods: An established framework for scoping reviews was used to guide the methodology. Studies published in PubMed over the last 10 years were included if they study or refer to ethics in relation to health technology as defined by established frameworks. In total, 14,532 articles were screened, 692 were retained for full-text evaluation, and 227 were included for data extraction.

Results: In total, 250 (80.9%, N=309) studies were conducted in North America and Europe; literature review studies were dominant. Most studies (52.9%, 120/227) had no direct reference to any of the 4 basic ethical principles: beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice. In cases where studies referenced ethical theory, consequentialism dominated.

Conclusions: When research about technology and ethics is published, the predominant focus is on its intent rather than its actual effect on patients. This lack of insight is problematic considering the vast advancement of technology in which ethics cannot keep up with understanding and offer insights on addressing ethical issues. This finding has implications for practice, research, and education.

Keywords: digital health; eHealth; ethical principles; ethical theory; ethics; health care; health technology; mHealth; scoping review; telehealth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the study selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Golan O, Hansen P, Kaplan G, Tal O. Health technology prioritization: which criteria for prioritizing new technologies and what are their relative weights? Health Policy. 2011 Oct;102(2-3):126–35. doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2010.10.012.S0168-8510(10)00306-4 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Reijers W, Wright D, Brey Philip, Weber Karsten, Rodrigues Rowena, O'Sullivan Declan, Gordijn Bert. Methods for practising ethics in research and innovation: a literature review, critical analysis and recommendations. Sci Eng Ethics. 2018 Oct;24(5):1437–1481. doi: 10.1007/s11948-017-9961-8. doi: 10.1007/s11948-017-9961-8.10.1007/s11948-017-9961-8 - DOI - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ali YRH. Ethical impact of the technology on the healthcare system. J Clin Invest Stud. 2020 Jun 11;3:1–2. doi: 10.15761/JCIS.1000124. https://www.oatext.com/pdf/JCIS-3-124.pdf - DOI
    1. Burls A, Caron L, Cleret de Langavant G, Dondorp W, Harstall C, Pathak-Sen E, Hofmann B. Tackling ethical issues in health technology assessment: a proposed framework. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2011 Jul 08;27(3):230–237. doi: 10.1017/s0266462311000250. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kleanthous S, Kasinidou M, Barlas P, Otterbacher J. Perception of fairness in algorithmic decisions: future developers' perspective. Patterns (N Y) 2022 Jan 14;3(1):100380. doi: 10.1016/j.patter.2021.100380. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2666-3899(21)00247-6 S2666-3899(21)00247-6 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources