ArticleBMC medical ethics2022
Attitudes of Polish physicians, nurses and pharmacists towards the ethical and legal aspects of the conscience clause.
Article in BMC medical ethics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Factors that create trust in the donation after circulatory death process among surgical personnel: a qualitative descriptive study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Spiritual determinants of abortion stigma: the role of socio-cultural and demographic variables in women's attitudes toward voluntary abortion.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Knowledge and attitudes toward emergency contraception among pharmacy students and community pharmacists in Poland.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Conscience clause in emergency contraception: professional uncertainty, attitudes, and regulatory preferences among pharmacists and pharmacy students. A cross-sectional study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- What do medical students think about conscientious objection? A cross-sectional study from Turkey.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Conscience clause in brain death care: ethical and legal perspectives of young nurses and midwives in Poland.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- When Biobanks Meet Religion: Association Between Religiosity and Attitudes of Polish Medical Students Toward Biobanking of Human Biological Material for Research Purposes.Journal of religion and health · 2024Article
- Perceptions and experiences of female nurses when confronted with expressing a conscientious objection towards end-of-life care in Greece.BMC nursing · 2023Article
- Between Autonomy and Paternalism: Attitudes of Nursing Personnel Towards Jehovah's Witnesses' Refusal of Blood Transfusion.International journal of public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundWhile healthcare professionals' right to invoke the conscience clause has been recognised as a fundamental human right, it continues to provoke a heated debate in Polish society. Although public discourse is filled with ethical and legal considerations on the conscience clause, much less is known about the attitudes of healthcare professionals regarding that matter. The aim of this study was therefore to describe the attitudes of Polish physicians, nurses and pharmacists towards the ethical and legal aspects of the conscience clause.
methodsWe analysed a group of three hundred healthcare professionals: physicians, nurses and pharmacists in Poznan, Poland, using a standard questionnaire comprising of 29 questions about various ethical and legal aspects of the conscience clause and participants' personal experiences with the conscience clause. The study was conducted between January and March 2020.
resultsThis research shows that although most Polish healthcare workers support the right to invoke the conscience clause they differ significantly in their opinions on to whom and to what medical procedures the conscience clause should apply to. It also demonstrated that while the conscience clause is rarely invoked in Poland, most healthcare professionals declare that the current legal regulations in that sphere are unclear and inaccurate.
conclusionsWhile there is an urgent need to raise the awareness regarding the conscience clause among medical students and healthcare professionals and educate them about such issues, it is even more important to improve the legal system in regard to the CC so that it protects both HCPs' right to the CC and safeguards patients' rights to medical services.
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