eHealth and ethics: theory, teaching, and practice.

Whitehouse, Diane and Duquenoy, Penny (2011) eHealth and ethics: theory, teaching, and practice. In: Information and communication technologies, society and human beings: theory and framework (festschrift in honor of Gunilla Bradley). Haftor, Darek and Mirijamdotter, Anita, eds. IGI Global, Hershey, PA, pp. 454-465. ISBN 9781609600570. [Book Section] (doi:10.4018/978-1-60960-057-0)

Preview

PDF Download (344kB) | Preview

Abstract

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is increasing rapidly in many spheres of contemporary life in Europe. The ethical use of ICT in all areas of its application is of growing importance. This is especially evident in the field of healthcare. The regional, national, and Europe-wide electronic aspects of health services and systems are related fundamentally to these two developments. This chapter explores the relevance of ethics to eHealth generally. It outlines two main contrasting ideas that have influenced ethical thought: Kantian ethics and consequentialism. It investigates the ways in which teaching and practice for ICT professionals and trainees can be enhanced and extended to increase the awareness of ethical issues in eHealth. It takes as examples two technological applications that are in increasing use in the eHealth field: electronic health records and radio frequency identification devices. The chapter ends with a brief discussion and conclusions about how this ethical awareness can be expanded beyond ICT professionals to other stakeholder groups, and to other eHealth technologies or applications.

Actions (login required)

View Item

Statistics

DownloadsShow export options

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Activity Overview

6 month trend

639Downloads

6 month trend

526Hits

Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.