Research ethics in accessing hospital staff and securing informed consent

Qualitative researchers cannot rely on research ethics to be a static practice. In this article we discuss how observation of guidelines for inquiry and international agreements on the dignity of health care research are not sufficient on their own to ensure that the challenges inherent in the everyday management of a project are regulated. We focus in particular on ethics in accessing participants and the construction of informed consent. During our study, important contrasts emerged between the ideal presented for the standard ethics review process and practical ethics. As a result, we focused on building open communication with the participants through rigorous project management. We analyzed the data and wrote this article collaboratively to represent the empirical reality of a team of researchers aiming to take ethical challenges seriously while collecting data in three National Health Service Trusts in the United Kingdom.