Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 7, St., Poznań, 60-806, Poland.
Department of Organization and Management in Health Care, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
BMC Med Ethics. 2023 Jul 22;24(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s12910-023-00930-z.
Over the last few decades biobanks have been recognised as institutions that may revolutionise biomedical research and the development of personalised medicine. Poland, however, still lacks clear regulations regarding the running of biobanks and the conducting of biomedical research. While the awareness of the general public regarding biobanks is low, healthcare professions and medical students also lack basic knowledge regarding biobanks, and such ignorance may affect their support for biobanks.
This study is aimed at assessing the knowledge and attitudes of future healthcare professionals towards the donation of human biological material for research purposes and is based on a sample of 865 Polish medical students at Poznań University of Medical Sciences.
This research has shown that the awareness of medical students' regarding biobanks is low. It has also shown that while the majority of future healthcare professionals enrolled in this study supported the idea of biobank research and declared themselves willing to donate, still many students felt ambivalent about the biobanking of human biological material for research purposes and expressed concerns over biobanking research. While the primarily motivation to participate in biobank research was the desire to help advance science and to develop innovative therapies, the most common reason for a refusal was the fear that the government, insurance companies or employers, might have access to the samples. Concerns over unethical use of samples and data safety were also prevalent. More than half of students opted for a study-specific model of consent and only a few opted for broad consent.
This research suggests that a lack of knowledge about biobanks, their role and activities may affect medical students' support for biobanks and their active participation in the collection and management of biospecimens for research purposes. Since in the future medical, nursing and pharmacy students will be involved in the collection, storage, testing and analysis of biospecimens from their patients, medical students in all professional fields should be trained regarding the concept, purposes and operational procedures of biobanks, as well as the ethical, legal and social implications of biobank research.
在过去的几十年中,生物银行已被认为是可能彻底改变生物医学研究和个性化医学发展的机构。然而,波兰在运行生物银行和进行生物医学研究方面仍缺乏明确的规定。尽管公众对生物银行的认识较低,但医疗保健专业人员和医学生也缺乏对生物银行的基本知识,这种无知可能会影响他们对生物银行的支持。
本研究旨在评估未来医疗保健专业人员对出于研究目的捐赠人类生物材料的知识和态度,其基于波兹南医科大学的 865 名波兰医学生样本。
这项研究表明,医学生对生物银行的认识较低。它还表明,尽管大多数未来的医疗保健专业人员支持生物库研究的想法并表示愿意捐赠,但仍有许多学生对出于研究目的对人类生物材料进行生物库储存感到矛盾,并对生物库研究表示担忧。虽然参与生物库研究的主要动机是希望帮助推进科学并开发创新疗法,但拒绝的最常见原因是担心政府、保险公司或雇主可能会访问样本。对样本的不道德使用和数据安全的担忧也很普遍。超过一半的学生选择了特定于研究的同意模式,只有少数人选择了广泛同意。
这项研究表明,缺乏对生物银行、其作用和活动的了解可能会影响医学生对生物银行的支持以及他们对生物样本的收集和管理的积极参与,以用于研究目的。由于未来的医学、护理和药学学生将参与从患者身上收集、储存、测试和分析生物样本,因此所有专业领域的医学生都应该接受有关生物银行的概念、目的和操作程序以及生物银行研究的伦理、法律和社会影响的培训。