Resumo

AMARO CANO, María del Carmen. What do our doctors know about the ethics of scientific research?. Rev Cubana Invest Bioméd [online]. 2006, vol.25, n.3. ISSN 0864-0300.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the participants in a master’s degree program. An intentional sample composed of doctors with several years of professional experience was selected. The analysis and synthesis were used as theoretical methods and the survey was utilized as an empiric method by the questionnaire technique. The percentage technique was also applied. The questionnaire was made based on the variables to be studied. The wide lack of knowledge about the research ethics with human beings is among the main conclusions. It is evidenced by the demand of theoretical knowledge about the ethical principles and limits ruling every research where they take part, the moral and legal responsibility of the doctors in these researches and the ethical requirements of evaluation of the research designs. It is recommended to incorporate the topic of research ethics to the undergraduate and postgraduate education including specially a compulsory module of research ethics in the master’s degree programs, and training every research ethics committee, starting at a first stage with the medical sciences faculties and research institutes, then the hospitals and, finally, the polyclinics.

Palavras-chave : Knowledge; skills; ethics; research.