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Technologic advancements and the evolving digital health landscape have offered innovative solutions to several of our health care system's issues as well as increased the number of digital interactions and type of personal health information that is generated and collected, both within and outside of traditional health care. This American College of Physicians' position paper discusses the state of privacy legislation and regulations, highlights existing gaps in health information privacy protections, and outlines policy principles and recommendations for the development of health information privacy and security protections that are comprehensive, transparent, understandable, adaptable, and enforceable. The principles and recommendations aim to improve on the privacy framework in which physicians have practiced for decades and expand similar privacy guardrails to entities not currently governed by privacy laws and regulations. The expanded privacy framework should protect personal health information from unauthorized, discriminatory, deceptive, or harmful uses and align with the principles of medical ethics, respect individual rights, and support the culture of trust necessary to maintain and improve care delivery.

First two decades of the twenty-first century are characterised by epidemics of non-communicable diseases such as many hundreds of millions of patients diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases and the type 2 diabetes mellitus, breast, lung, liver and prostate malignancies, neurological, sleep, mood and eye disorders, amongst others. Consequent socio-economic burden is tremendous. Unprecedented decrease in age of maladaptive individuals has been reported. The absolute majority of expanding non-communicable disorders carry a chronic character, over a couple of years progressing from reversible suboptimal health conditions to irreversible severe pathologies and cascading collateral complications. The time-frame between onset of SHS and clinical manifestation of associated disorders is the operational area for an application of reliable risk assessment tools and predictive diagnostics followed by the cost-effective targeted prevention and treatments tailored to the person.This article demonstrates advanced strategies in bio/medical sciences and healthcare focused on suboptimal health conditions in the frame-work of Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (3PM/PPPM). Potential benefits in healthcare systems and for society at large include but are not restricted to an improved life-quality of major populations and socio-economical groups, advanced professionalism of healthcare-givers and sustainable healthcare economy. Amongst others, following medical areas are proposed to strongly benefit from PPPM strategies applied to the identification and treatment of suboptimal health conditions:Stress overload associated pathologiesMale and female healthPlanned pregnanciesPeriodontal healthEye disordersInflammatory disorders, wound healing and pain management with associated complicationsMetabolic disorders and suboptimal body weightCardiovascular pathologiesCancersStroke, particularly of unknown aetiology and in young individualsSleep medicineSports medicineImproved individual outcomes under pandemic conditions such as COVID-19.

Suicide is a major global public health issue, and in recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the problem of physician suicide. This American College of Physicians policy paper examines, from the perspective of ethics, the issues that arise when individuals and institutions respond to physician suicides and when they engage in broader efforts aimed at physician suicide prevention. Emphasizing the medical profession as a unique moral community characterized by ethical and professional commitments of service to patients, each other, and society, this paper offers guidance regarding physician suicide and the role of a healing community. The response to an individual physician suicide should be characterized by respect and concern for those who are grieving, the creation of a supportive environment for suicide loss survivors, and careful communication about the event. Because suicide is a complex problem, actions aimed at preventing suicide must occur at the individual, interpersonal, community, and societal levels. The medical community has an obligation to foster a culture that supports education, screening, and access to mental health treatment, beginning at the earliest stages of medical training.

Has the world responded to the coronavirus pandemic in an intergenerationally just manner? Three aspects are relevant to intergenerational justice: the number of dead and ill (medical dimension), the economic downturn (economic dimension), and the additional national debt (financial dimension). The goal must be to protect future societies from the cumulative damage that pandemics may cause. Against this background, a new vaccination strategy for humanity - and this includes the individual national states - turns out to be the most important element. Such a strategy would help to ease the diseases we can ease and eradicate the diseases we can eradicate. Herd immunity should not only be the goal for the rich countries but for humanity as a whole. This is not only necessary for social and/or developmental reasons, but also serves the self-protection of the richer countries in an inter-connected world. We need more government funding for prophylactic vaccine research. This would lead to the typical development time of a vaccine - 10-12 years on average - being shortened. The rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 shows that a reduction to 1-2 years is possible if the necessary resources are made available. The testing of vaccine candidates for each infectious disease, however, comes with the cost of at least in the high three-digit million euro range. Profit-oriented companies cannot reasonably be expected to produce vaccines in advance that may never be needed at their own expense. In the future, vaccines must therefore be treated as "global public goods", whose development and production are primarily the responsibility of states. The record amounts pledged by governments at the donor conferences for vaccines in 2020/2021 show the beginning of a paradigm shift. However, this approach will come to nothing if the willingness of individuals to be vaccinated does not increase at the same time, as well. Here, every single member of the current generation has a duty of solidarity towards future generations. This should be made aware of and weighed against self-interest. Responsible epidemiological individual behavior includes regular (repeated) vaccinations for the purpose of prevention. This applies in the context of parental responsibility concerning to child vaccinations, but also for adults, e.g. in the context of an annual influenza vaccination. In doing so, thousands of deaths can be avoided, which for the most part have been tolerated by our society up until now. Two changes of the framework conditions are central to this: 1) Vaccinations should be generally free of charge for the entire population. 2) Vaccinations should be easily accessible, with only few exceptions. This means that vaccinations should be available not only from doctors but also from pharmacies.

Research within the anatomical sciences often relies on human cadaveric tissues. Without the good will of these donors who allow us to use their bodies to push forward our anatomical knowledge, most human anatomical research would come to a standstill. However, many research papers omit an acknowledgement to the donor cadavers or, as no current standardized versions exist, use language that is extremely varied. To remedy this problem, 20 editors-in-chiefs from 17 anatomical journals joined together to put together official recommendations that can be used by authors when acknowledging the donor cadavers used in their studies. The goal of these recommendations is to standardize the writing approach by which donors are acknowledged in anatomical studies that use human cadaveric tissues. Such sections in anatomical papers will not only rightfully thank those who made the donation but might also encourage, motivate, and inspire future individuals to make such gifts for the betterment of the anatomical sciences and patient care.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: There is considerable actual and potential waste in research. Using evidence-based research (EBR) can ensure the value of a new study. The aim of this article, the third in a series, is to describe an EBR approach to putting research results into context.STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: EBR is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner. In this third and final article of a series, we describe how to use the context of existing evidence to reach and present a trustworthy and useful conclusion when reporting results from a new clinical study.RESULTS: We describe a method, the EBR approach, that by using a systematic and transparent consideration of earlier similar studies when interpreting and presenting results from a new original study will ensure usefulness of the conclusion.CONCLUSION: Using an EBR approach will improve the usefulness of a clinical study by providing the context to draw more valid conclusions and explicit information about new research needs.

The environment in which physicians practice and patients receive care continues to change. Increasing employment of physicians, changing practice models, new regulatory requirements, and market dynamics all affect medical practice; some changes may also place greater emphasis on the business of medicine. Fundamental ethical principles and professional values about the patient-physician relationship, the primacy of patient welfare over self-interest, and the role of medicine as a moral community and learned profession need to be applied to the changing environment, and physicians must consider the effect the practice environment has on their ethical and professional responsibilities. Recognizing that all health care delivery arrangements come with advantages, disadvantages, and salient questions for ethics and professionalism, this American College of Physicians policy paper examines the ethical implications of issues that are particularly relevant today, including incentives in the shift to value-based care, physician contract clauses that affect care, private equity ownership, clinical priority setting, and physician leadership. Physicians should take the lead in helping to ensure that relationships and practices are structured to explicitly recognize and support the commitments of the physician and the profession of medicine to patients and patient care.

Objectives There is considerable actual and potential waste in research. Evidence-based research ensures worthwhile and valuable research. The aim of this series, which this article introduces, is to describe the evidence-based research approach. Study Design and Setting In this first article of a three-article series, we introduce the evidence-based research approach. Evidence-based research is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner. Results We describe evidence-based research and provide an overview of the approach of systematically and transparently using previous research before starting a new study to justify and design the new study (article #2 in series) and—on study completion—place its results in the context with what is already known (article #3 in series). Conclusion This series introduces evidence-based research as an approach to minimize unnecessary and irrelevant clinical health research that is unscientific, wasteful, and unethical.

In recent years, as the high burden of surgical disease and poor access to surgical care in low- and middle-income countries have gained recognition as major public health problems, interest in global health has surged among surgical trainees and faculty. Traditionally, clinical volunteerism was at the forefront of the high-income country response to the significant burden of surgical disease in low- and middle-income countries. However, sustainable strategies for providing surgical care in low- and middle-income countries increasingly depend on bilateral clinical, research, and education collaborations to ensure effective resource allocation and contextual relevance. Academic global surgery creates avenues for interested surgeons to combine scholarship and education with their clinical global surgery passions through incorporation of basic/translational, education, clinical outcomes, or health services research with global surgery. Training in global health, either within residency or through advanced degrees, can provide the necessary skills to develop and sustain such initiatives. We further propose that creating cross-continental, bidirectional collaborations can maximize funding opportunities. Academic institutions are uniquely positioned to lead longitudinal and, importantly, sustainable global surgery efforts. However, for the individual global surgeon, the career path forward may be unclear. This paper reviews the development of academic global surgery, delineates the framework and factors critical to training global surgeons, and proposes models for establishing an academic career in this field. Overall, with determination, the academic global surgeon will not only carve out a niche of expertise but will define this critical field for future generations.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is considerable actual and potential waste in research. The aim of this article is to describe how using an evidence-based research approach before conducting a study helps to ensure that the new study truly adds value.STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Evidence-based research is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner. In this second article of the evidence-based research series, we describe how to apply an evidence-based research approach before starting a new study.RESULTS: Before a new study is performed, researchers need to provide a solid justification for it using the available scientific knowledge as well as the perspectives of end users. The key method for both is to conduct a systematic review of earlier relevant studies.CONCLUSION: Describing the ideal process illuminates the challenges and opportunities offered through the suggested evidence-based research approach. A systematic and transparent approach is needed to provide justification for and to optimally design a relevant and necessary new study.

In recent decades, evidence-based medicine has become one of the foundations of clinical practice, making it necessary that healthcare practitioners develop keen critical appraisal skills for scientific papers. Worksheets to guide clinicians through this critical appraisal are often used in journal clubs, a key part of continuing medical education. A similar need is arising for health professionals to develop skills in the critical appraisal of medical ethics papers. Medicine is increasingly ethically complex, and there is a growing medical ethics literature that modern practitioners need to be able to use in their practice. In addition, clinical ethics services are commonplace in healthcare institutions, and the lion’s share of the work done by these services is done by clinicians in addition to their usual roles. Education to support this work is important. In this paper, we present a worksheet designed to help busy healthcare practitioners critically appraise ethics papers relevant to clinical practice. In the first section, we explain what is different about ethics papers. We then describe how to work through the steps in our critical appraisal worksheet: identifying the point at issue; scrutinising definitions; dissecting the arguments presented; considering counterarguments; and finally deciding on relevance. Working through this reflective worksheet will help healthcare practitioners to use the ethics literature effectively in clinical practice. We also intend it to be a shared evaluative tool that can form the basis of professional discussion such as at ethics journal clubs. Practising these critical reasoning skills will also increase practitioners’ capacity to think through difficult ethical decisions in daily clinical practice.

In their letter to the Editor in this issue, Kolstoe and Carpenter challenge a core aspect of our recently published case study of research approvals [BMC Medical Ethics 20:7] by arguing that we conflate research ethics with governance and funding processes. Amongst the key concerns of the authors are: 1) that our paper exemplifies a typical conflation of concepts such as governance, integrity and ethics, with significant consequences for claims around the responsibility and accountability of the organisations involved; 2) that, as a consequence of this conflation, we misrepresent the ethics review process, including in fundamental aspects such as the ethics approval-opinion distinction; 3) that it is difficult to see scope for greater integration of processes such as applying for funding, research approvals, Patient and Public Involvement, etc., as suggested by us. Here we present an alternative point of view towards the concerns raised.

Calls to legalize physician-assisted suicide have increased and public interest in the subject has grown in recent years despite ethical prohibitions. Many people have concerns about how they will die and the emphasis by medicine and society on intervention and cure has sometimes come at the expense of good end-of-life care. Some have advocated strongly, on the basis of autonomy, that physician-assisted suicide should be a legal option at the end of life. As a proponent of patient-centered care, the American College of Physicians (ACP) is attentive to all voices, including those who speak of the desire to control when and how life will end. However, the ACP believes that the ethical arguments against legalizing physician-assisted suicide remain the most compelling. On the basis of substantive ethics, clinical practice, policy, and other concerns articulated in this position paper, the ACP does not support legalization of physician-assisted suicide. It is problematic given the nature of the patient-physician relationship, affects trust in the relationship and in the profession, and fundamentally alters the medical profession's role in society. Furthermore, the principles at stake in this debate also underlie medicine's responsibilities regarding other issues and the physician's duties to provide care based on clinical judgment, evidence, and ethics. Society's focus at the end of life should be on efforts to address suffering and the needs of patients and families, including improving access to effective hospice and palliative care. The ACP remains committed to improving care for patients throughout and at the end of life.

The centenary of the death of Sir William Osler1 provides a stimulus to considering ways in which his legacy lives on through the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM). Osler was the founding president of the Postgraduate Medical Association (founded in 1911) and later of the Interallied Fellowship of Medicine2 (founded in late 1918). In view of their common aim of establishing permanent postgraduate medical education in the UK, the societies merged later in 1919, with Osler as president until his death at the end of that year. This joint organisation was initially called the Fellowship of Medicine and Post-Graduate Medical Association3 and continues to this day as the FPM.4 Osler was a lifelong promoter of postgraduate medical education. In the 1880s, in his role as a medical leader in North America,1 he pioneered hospital residency programmes for junior trainee doctors (see figures 1 and 2). As Regius Professor of Medicine in Oxford from 1905, Osler wished early postgraduate teaching in the UK, and in London, in particular, to include access to ‘the wealth of material at all the hospitals’.5 He also saw medical societies as important for providing reliable continuous medical development for senior doctors. Figure 1 Osler with Johns Hopkins interns. Credit: Wellcome Images L0004895). Figure 2 Young professors at McGill: William Osler, FJ Shepherd and George Ross.credit: Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University. William Osler Photo Collection/NLM/NIH. Under Osler’s leadership, the Fellowship of Medicine responded to demand for postgraduate civilian medical training after the First World War, supported by a general committee of 73 senior medical figures, with representatives from the British …

This paper aims to provide a description of how authors publishing in medical ethics journals have made use of empirical research data in papers on the topic of gamete or embryo donation by means of references to studies conducted by others (secondary use). Rather than making a direct contribution to the theoretical methodological literature about the role empirical research data could play or should play in ethics studies, the focus is on the particular uses of these data and the problems that can be encountered with this use. In the selection of papers examined, apart from being used to describe the context, empirical evidence was mainly used to recount problems that needed solving. Few of the authors looked critically at the quality of the studies they quoted, and several instances were found of empirical data being used poorly or inappropriately. This study provides some initial baseline evidence that shows empirical data, in the form of references to studies, are sometimes being used in inappropriate ways. This suggests that medical ethicists should be more concerned about the quality of the empirical data selected, the appropriateness of the choice for a particular type of data (from a particular type of study) and the correct integration of this evidence in sound argumentation. Given that empirical data can be misused also when merely cited instead of reported, it may be worthwhile to explore good practice requirements for this type of use of empirical data in medical ethics.

Honorary authorship is the inclusion of an author on an article whose contribution does not warrant authorship. We conducted an Internet-based survey among first authors publishing in Indian biomedical journals from 2012 to 2013 to study the frequency and factors associated with honorary authorship. The response rate was 27% (245/908) with the prevalence of perceived, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)-defined, and unperceived honorary authorship of 20.9% (50/239), 60% (147/245), and 46.9% (115/245), respectively. Those residing in India were found to list more honorary authors. We hope to increase awareness of the ICMJE authorship guidelines and the general issue of honorary authorship among researchers in India and elsewhere.

Medical ethics and related topics such as data protection are often viewed as extraneous encumberments by researchers. However these fields provide guidelines for correct conduct and are mostly common sense. This Best Practice Guideline collection will focus on various related aspects pertaining to ethics in publication, and this paper will outline the key points in each of these papers in the collection.