Department of Physiotherapy, School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana.
Ghana Med J. 2020 Sep;54(3):179-185. doi: 10.4314/gmj.v54i3.9.
To determine the patterns of ethical issues and decision-making challenges encountered by practicing physiotherapists in Ghana.
This is a cross-sectional study in which the stratified sampling technique was adopted to sample the participants.
The study involved physiotherapists at the private healthcare setting and from different levels of public healthcare facilities.
Eighty-two duly registered physiotherapists who were practising in Ghana participated in the study.
Participants completed a 30-item questionnaire related to ethical issues and challenges encountered in making ethical decisions. Data analysis was premised on the frequency of occurrence of ethical tensions and difficulty in decision making which were dichotomized as 'high' and 'low' issues, and 'extreme' and 'low' difficult decisions, respectively.
The age range of the participants was 21-49 years (mean 31.5 ± 1.4years). 18 (22%), 31 (37.8%) and 33 (40.2%) physiotherapists practice in the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare settings respectively. 56 (68.3%) and 43 (52.4%) of the participants affirmed that 'establishing priorities for patient's treatment amidst limited time resources' was the most frequently encountered and the most extremely difficult ethical issue to make a decision on respectively. Whereas, limiting physical therapy services for personal or organizational gains sub-theme was the least occurred issue which was also the least difficult to make a decision on as indicated by the respective 16 (19.5%) and 18 (22.0%) physiotherapists.
A wide range of primary and secondary ethical issues were reported by the sampled physiotherapists, which tend to pose difficulty during the decision-making process in practice.
The research work was self-funded by the authors.
确定加纳执业物理治疗师遇到的伦理问题和决策挑战模式。
这是一项横断面研究，采用分层抽样技术抽取参与者。
研究涉及私人医疗保健环境和不同级别公共医疗保健设施的物理治疗师。
82 名在加纳执业的注册物理治疗师参加了这项研究。
参与者完成了一份与伦理问题和伦理决策中遇到的挑战相关的 30 项问卷。数据分析基于伦理紧张发生的频率和决策的困难程度，将其分为“高”和“低”问题，以及“极端”和“低”困难决策。
参与者的年龄范围为 21-49 岁（平均 31.5 ± 1.4 岁）。18（22%）、31（37.8%）和 33（40.2%）名物理治疗师分别在初级、中级和三级医疗保健环境中执业。56（68.3%）和 43（52.4%）名参与者肯定“在有限的时间资源中为患者治疗确立优先顺序”是最常遇到和最难以做出决策的最极端的伦理问题。而限制物理治疗服务以获取个人或组织利益的亚主题是发生率最低的问题，也是最不容易做出决策的问题，分别有 16（19.5%）和 18（22.0%）名物理治疗师表示。
抽样的物理治疗师报告了广泛的初级和二级伦理问题，这些问题在实践中往往在决策过程中造成困难。
研究工作由作者自筹资金。
