Evidence mapPaperPMID 39120780Full record

SynthesisMedicine, health care, and philosophy2024

Non-empirical methods for ethics research on digital technologies in medicine, health care and public health: a systematic journal review.

Frank Ursin, Regina Müller, Florian Funer, Wenke Liedtke, David Renz, Svenja Wiertz, Robert Ranisch

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Medicine, health care, and philosophy, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Frank UrsinInstitute for Ethics, History and Philosophy of Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany. ursin.frank@mh-hannover.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9378-3811
Regina MüllerInstitute of Philosophy, University of Bremen, Enrique-Schmidt-Straße 7, 28359, Bremen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6821-6770
Florian FunerInstitute for Ethics and History of Medicine, Eberhard Karls University, Gartenstrasse 47, 72074, Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9242-0827
Wenke LiedtkeFaculty of Theology, University of Greifswald, Am Rubenowplatz 2-3, 17489, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1433-658X
David RenzFaculty of Protestant Theology, University of Bonn, Am Hofgarten 8, 53113, Bonn, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-9732-3976
Svenja WiertzDepartment of Medical Ethics and the History of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Str. 26, 79104, Freiburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5255-7933
Robert RanischJunior Professorship for Medical Ethics with a Focus on Digitization, Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam, Am Mühlenberg 9, 14476, Potsdam, Golm, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1676-1694

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Bioethics has developed approaches to address ethical issues in health care, similar to how technology ethics provides guidelines for ethical research on artificial intelligence, big data, and robotic applications. As these digital technologies are increasingly used in medicine, health care and public health, thus, it is plausible that the approaches of technology ethics have influenced bioethical research. Similar to the "empirical turn" in bioethics, which led to intense debates about appropriate moral theories, ethical frameworks and meta-ethics due to the increased use of empirical methodologies from social sciences, the proliferation of health-related subtypes of technology ethics might have a comparable impact on current bioethical research. This systematic journal review analyses the reporting of ethical frameworks and non-empirical methods in argument-based research articles on digital technologies in medicine, health care and public health that have been published in high-impact bioethics journals. We focus on articles reporting non-empirical research in original contributions. Our aim is to describe currently used methods for the ethical analysis of ethical issues regarding the application of digital technologies in medicine, health care and public health. We confine our analysis to non-empirical methods because empirical methods have been well-researched elsewhere. Finally, we discuss our findings against the background of established methods for health technology assessment, the lack of a typology for non-empirical methods as well as conceptual and methodical change in bioethics. Our descriptive results may serve as a starting point for reflecting on whether current ethical frameworks and non-empirical methods are appropriate to research ethical issues deriving from the application of digital technologies in medicine, health care and public health.

Indexed as

Digital TechnologyPublic HealthBioethicsDelivery of Health CareEthical AnalysisEthics, ResearchHumans

Identifiers

PMID39120780
PMCPMC11519279

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.