The NERSH Questionnaire and Pool of Data from 12 Countries: Development and Description

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Sociology of Medicine
• Global Health

Background:

• Limited international data exist on how healthcare workers' values vary globally.
• Recent research explores the impact of healthcare professionals' values on medical practice and ethical decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the development of a questionnaire for assessing values in medicine.
• To provide an overview of the NERSH International Collaboration on Values in Medicine data pool.
• To review initial insights from studies utilizing the questionnaire.

Main Methods:

• Development of an original and optimized questionnaire to assess physician religious characteristics and values.
• Establishment of the NERSH International Collaboration on Values in Medicine.
• Compilation of data from 17 studies across 12 countries on six continents.

Main Results:

• The NERSH data pool includes responses from over 6000 health professionals.
• Significant cross-national and cross-cultural differences in religious and moral values among health professionals were identified.
• These value differences correlate with observed variations in clinical practices across nations and cultures.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare professionals' values exhibit substantial international and cultural variation.
• These values play a role in shaping diverse clinical practices worldwide.
• Further research is needed to fully understand the global impact of values in medicine.