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ETHICAL ASPECTS OF LIMITING RESIDENTS' WORK HOURS
Author(s) -
WIESING URBAN
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-8519
pISSN - 0269-9702
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2007.00573.x
Subject(s) - beneficence , harm , limiting , work (physics) , engineering ethics , autonomy , respect for persons , psychology , sociology , social psychology , law , political science , engineering , mechanical engineering
Definition of the problem: The regulation of residents' work hours involves several ethical conflicts which need to be systematically analysed and evaluated. Arguments and conclusion: The most important ethical principle when regulating work hours is to avoid the harm resulting from the over‐work of physicians and from an excessive division of labour. Additionally, other ethical principles have to be taken into account, in particular the principles of nonmaleficence and beneficence for future patients and for physicians. The article presents arguments for balancing the relevant ethical principles and analyses the structural difficulties that occur unavoidably in any regulation of the complex activities of physicians.