HAVE YOU DONE HUMANITARIAN

AID WORK?

Study funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research 

This study have been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through, the Office of Research Ethics, McMaster University

WE ARE INTERESTED IN UNDERSTANDING THE ETHICAL CHALLENGES

FACED BY HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (HP) WHO HAVE WORKED IN RESOURCE POOR SETTINGS & AREAS OF DISASTER

WHAT is being asked of you?You would be asked to participate in a 90 minute interview and share your experiences about providing health care in resource poor settings and areas of disaster.

WHAT is the purpose of this study?To collect stories of ethical challenges HPs faced while working in resource poor settings and areas of disaster.

WHO can participate?Any heath professional (MD, nurse, midwife, student MD etc) who has done humanitarian aid work.

What useful information will result from this study?• The creation of an ethical toolkit that can be used by HPs to prepare them to enter or re-enter the field of humanitarian aid work.• The findings will help inform policy makers who support humanitarian aid work.

CONFIDENTIALITYAll personal information will be removed from any information collected.

Examples of ethical challenges• Being expected to perform medical procedures that the worker is untrained for, but where no one else is available to do it.• Being obligated to adhere to organizational mandates with which the worker disagrees.• Sending expired medications to developing countries.

“When I first started doing this work, there was never any kind of briefing about anything...I never actually attended any pre-departure sessions that talked about ethics.”

“I saw a pregnant woman who had severe eclampsia, and whose blood pressure, despite delivery of the baby, continued to climb. Drugs that I would normally give only when a patient was attached to every monitor I could think of are infusing a few hundred metres away with only "30 drops per minute" written on the clear bag.”