Bárbara Santa Rosa

Information and communication Technologies are increasingly present in health care, as exemplified by the recourse to remote consultation. Such care delivery modality brings unquestionable benefits, such as helping to face the contemporary challenges plaguing health systems worldwide. But its ever-increasing use underlines the importance of safeguarding ethical issues related to autonomy, equity, privacy, and the quality of the user-professional relations. This paper reflects on the ethical challenges presented before, during, and after remote consultation as to optimize and shape its use.

Resumen Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación tienen una influencia cada vez mayor en el área de la salud, y esto lleva a un aumento significativo en el uso de la teleconsulta. Muchos son los beneficios de esta modalidad de prestación de servicios sanitarios, comenzando por el hecho de que ayudan a abordar los desafíos contemporáneos que afectan a los sistemas de salud en todo el mundo. Sin embargo, su uso creciente destaca la importancia de salvaguardar las cuestiones éticas relacionadas con la autonomía, la equidad, la privacidad y la calidad de la relación entre el paciente y el profesional de la salud. Este artículo pretende incitar a una reflexión sobre los desafíos éticos que surgen antes, durante y después del uso de la teleconsulta, con el fin de optimizarlo y modelarlo.

Resumo As tecnologias da informação e comunicação têm influência cada vez maior na área da saúde, sendo o aumento significativo do recurso à teleconsulta um reflexo disso. Os benefícios que essa modalidade de prestação de serviços de saúde ocasiona são inquestionáveis, a começar pelo facto de auxiliarem a enfrentar os desafios contemporâneos que assolam os sistemas de saúde em todo o mundo. Todavia, a sua crescente utilização vem sublinhar a importância de salvaguardar questões éticas relacionadas com a autonomia, equidade, privacidade e qualidade da relação entre o utente e o profissional de saúde. Este artigo pretende estimular uma reflexão acerca dos desafios éticos que se colocam antes, durante e após o uso da teleconsulta, com o intuito de otimizar e modelar a sua utilização.

Ethical standards in audiology have been continuously improved and discussed, leading to the elaboration of specific regulatory guidelines for the profession. However, in the field of auditory rehabilitation, audiologists are still faced with circumstances that question their ethical principles, usually associated with the support of the hearing aids industry. The study explores the decision-making process and ethical concerns in auditory rehabilitation as they relate to the practice of audiology in Portugal. An online questionnaire constructed by the authors was used and sent to the email addresses of a list of audiologists, registered with the Portuguese Association of Audiologists. The questionnaire was answered by 93 audiologists with clinical experience in auditory rehabilitation for more than one year. The collected data demonstrated that audiometric results and clinical experience are the most important factors for decision-making in auditory rehabilitation practice. Moreover, incentives from the employers or manufacturers were identified as the main cause of ethical dilemmas. This study highlights the ethical concerns regarding the clinical practice of auditory rehabilitation in Portugal, revealing that the decision-making process is complex and, specifically in this field, the current practice may not be adequate for effective compliance with professional ethical standards.