Awareness of Medical Professionals Regarding Research Ethics in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Survey to Assess Training Needs

Background: Ethics is an essential component of human research, and knowledge and awareness of ethical guidelines are required to conduct research involving human subjects and ensure the participants’ safety. Objectives: To investigate medical professionals’ and researchers’ knowledge of national and international research ethics guidelines, key principles in human research projects, ethical issues in different types of research, the importance of informed consent, and institutional review boards. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study with 251 participants, including physicians, nurses, and researchers from three different research centers and hospitals in Riyadh city, was carried out using an electronic self-structured questionnaire. The sample size was estimated using OpenEpi, Version 3. The questionnaire contained six different sets of questions to analyze knowledge about research ethics and guidelines. The results were analyzed using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results: About 53.78% of the participants had received research ethics education, out of which 78.51% of the participants expressed the need for more training in research ethics education. The Belmont Report showed a high level of unawareness among nurses (88.3%), physicians (73.8%), and researchers (55.32%). Nurses had a high level of positive attitude about all the key principles of human research. The highest level of awareness of ethical issues in clinical trials and interventional studies was found among researchers (54%), and the lowest level of awareness was exhibited by nurses (19.32%). Nurses (74.34%) and physicians (62.79%) had the lowest positive attitudes about obtaining children’s assent in pediatric research. Physicians and researchers had a higher awareness of the IRB than nurses. Conclusion: Researchers were well-versed in research ethics, regulatory guidelines, and ethical issues in various types of research, whereas nurses were enthusiastic about key principles in human research and the importance of informed consent. This study shows that a very low percentage of nurses have received research ethics education and emphasizes the critical importance of including research ethics education in nursing curricula, as the involvement of nurses in research is inevitable. This study also shows the lack of knowledge among nurses, researchers, and doctors about various international guidelines. It emphasizes the importance of adding regulatory guidelines to the curriculum and teaching them effectively to students. Also, periodic workshops should be conducted to enhance the practical knowledge of the professionals regarding the guidelines and guide them in overcoming the practical difficulties they encounter during their practice.