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Using multi-attribute decision-making approaches in the selection of a hospital management system

Arasteh MA, Shamshirband S, Yee PL

Technol Health Care, 2018;26(2):279-295.
PMID: 29309042 DOI: 10.3233/THC-170947

The most appropriate organizational software is always a real challenge for managers, especially, the IT directors. The illustration of the term "enterprise software selection", is to purchase, create, or order a software that; first, is best adapted to require of the organization; and second, has suitable price and technical support. Specifying selection criteria and ranking them, is the primary prerequisite for this action. This article provides a method to evaluate, rank, and compare the available enterprise software for choosing the apt one. The prior mentioned method is constituted of three-stage processes. First, the method identifies the organizational requires and assesses them. Second, it selects the best method throughout three possibilities; indoor-production, buying software, and ordering special software for the native use. Third, the method evaluates, compares and ranks the alternative software. The third process uses different methods of multi attribute decision making (MADM), and compares the consequent results. Based on different characteristics of the problem; several methods had been tested, namely, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Elimination and Choice Expressing Reality (ELECTURE), and easy weight method. After all, we propose the most practical method for same problems.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making*
Fulltext Mapping the evidence on health equity considerations in economic evaluations of health interventions: a scoping review protocol

Besar Sa'aid H, Mathew S, Richardson M, Bielecki JM, Sander B

Syst Rev, 2020 01 08;9(1):6.
PMID: 31915067 DOI: 10.1186/s13643-019-1257-4

BACKGROUND: Equity in health has become an important policy agenda around the world, prompting health economists to advance methods to enable the inclusion of equity in economic evaluations. Among the methods that have been proposed to explicitly include equity are the weighting analysis, equity impact analysis, and equity trade-off analysis. This is a new development and a comprehensive overview of trends and concepts of health equity in economic evaluations is lacking. Thus, our objective is to map the current state of the literature with respect to how health equity is considered in economic evaluations of health interventions reported in the academic and gray literature.
METHODS: We will conduct a scoping review to identify and map evidence on how health equity is considered in economic evaluations of health interventions. We will search relevant electronic, gray literature and key journals. We developed a search strategy using text words and Medical Subject Headings terms related to health equity and economic evaluations of health interventions. Articles retrieved will be uploaded to reference manager software for screening and data extraction. Two reviewers will independently screen the articles based on their titles and abstracts for inclusion, and then will independently screen a full text to ascertain final inclusion. A simple numerical count will be used to quantify the data and a content analysis will be conducted to present the narrative; that is, a thematic summary of the data collected.
DISCUSSION: The results of this scoping review will provide a comprehensive overview of the current evidence on how health equity is considered in economic evaluations of health interventions and its research gaps. It will also provide key information to decision-makers and policy-makers to understand ways to include health equity into the prioritization of health interventions when aiming for a more equitable distribution of health resources.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: This protocol was registered with Open Science Framework (OSF) Registry on August 14, 2019 (https://osf.io/9my2z/registrations).

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
Systematic Reviews: Understanding the Best Evidence For Clinical Decision-making in Health Care: Pros and Cons

Memon MA, Khan S, Alam K, Rahman MM, Yunus RM

Surg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech, 2020 Dec 04;31(2):234-240.
PMID: 33284258 DOI: 10.1097/SLE.0000000000000889

In the era of evidence-based decision-making, systematic reviews (SRs) are being widely used in many health care policies, government programs, and academic disciplines. SRs are detailed and comprehensive literature review of a specific research topic with a view to identifying, appraising, and synthesizing the research findings from various relevant primary studies. A SR therefore extracts the relevant summary information from the selected studies without bias by strictly adhering to the review procedures and protocols. This paper presents all underlying concepts, stages, steps, and procedures in conducting and publishing SRs. Unlike the findings of narrative reviews, the synthesized results of any SRs are reproducible, not subjective and bias free. However, there are a number of issues related to SRs that directly impact on the quality of the end results. If the selected studies are of high quality, the criteria of the SRs are fully satisfied, and the results constitute the highest level of evidence. It is therefore essential that the end users of SRs are aware of the weaknesses and strengths of the underlying processes and techniques so that they could assess the results in the correct perspective within the context of the research question.

Matched MeSH terms: Clinical Decision-Making*
Fulltext Role of Travel Motivations, Perceived Risks and Travel Constraints on Destination Image and Visit Intention in Medical Tourism: Theoretical model

Khan MJ, Chelliah S, Haron MS, Ahmed S

Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J, 2017 Feb;17(1):e11-e17.
PMID: 28417022 DOI: 10.18295/squmj.2016.17.01.003

Travel motivations, perceived risks and travel constraints, along with the attributes and characteristics of medical tourism destinations, are important issues in medical tourism. Although the importance of these factors is already known, a comprehensive theoretical model of the decision-making process of medical tourists has yet to be established, analysing the intricate relationships between the different variables involved. This article examines a large body of literature on both medical and conventional tourism in order to propose a comprehensive theoretical framework of medical tourism decision-making. Many facets of this complex phenomenon require further empirical investigation.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making*
Who decides? A qualitative study on the decisional roles of patients, their caregivers and doctors on the method of bladder drainage after spinal cord injury

Engkasan JP, Ng CJ, Low WY

Spinal Cord, 2015 Feb;53(2):130-4.
PMID: 25403504 DOI: 10.1038/sc.2014.199

STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative study using individual in-depth interviews.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the roles of patients, their caregivers and doctors when making decisions on the method of bladder drainage after spinal cord injury (SCI).

SETTING: Five public hospitals in Malaysia.

METHODS: Semistructured (one-to-one) interviews with 17 male patients with SCI, 4 caregivers and 10 rehabilitation professionals.

RESULTS: Eight themes describing the respective decisional roles of patients, their caregivers and doctors emerged from the analysis: patient's right and responsibilities, patient as an informed decision maker, forced to accept decision; surrogate decision maker, silent partner; doctor knows best, over-ride patient's decision, or reluctant decision maker. Both patients and doctors acknowledged the importance of patient autonomy but not all patients had the chance to practice it. Some felt that they were forced to accept the doctor's decision and even alleged that the doctor refused to accept their decision. Doctors considered the caregiver as the decision maker in cases that involved minors, elderly and those with tetraplegia. Some patients considered bladder problems an embarrassing subject to discuss with their caregivers and did not want their involvement. Doctors were described as knowledgeable and were trusted by patients and their caregivers to make the most appropriate option. Some doctors were happy to assume this role whereas some others saw themselves only as information providers.

CONCLUSIONS: A paternalistic model is prevalent in this decision-making process and there is a discrepancy between patients' preferred and actual decisional roles.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making*
Factors influencing bladder management in male patients with spinal cord injury: a qualitative study

Engkasan JP, Ng CJ, Low WY

Spinal Cord, 2014 Feb;52(2):157-62.
PMID: 24276416 DOI: 10.1038/sc.2013.145

STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative study using individual in-depth interviews.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to explore the factors influencing the choice of bladder management for male patients with spinal cord injury (SCI).
SETTING: Public hospitals in Malaysia.
METHODS: Semistructured (one-on-one) interviews of 17 patients with SCI; 7 were in-patients with a recent injury and 10 lived in the community. All had a neurogenic bladder and were on various methods of bladder drainage. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analyses.
RESULTS: The choice of bladder management was influenced by treatment attributes, patients' physical and psychological attributes, health practitioners' influences and social attributes. Participants were more likely to choose a treatment option that was perceived to be convenient to execute and helped maintain continence. The influence of potential treatment complications on decision making was more variable. Health professionals' and peers' opinions on treatment options had a significant influence on participants' decision. In addition, patients' choices depended on their physical ability to carry out the task, the level of family support received and the anticipated level of social activities. Psychological factors such as embarrassment with using urine bags, confidence in self-catheterization and satisfaction with the current method also influenced the choice of bladder management method.
CONCLUSION: The choice of bladder management in people with SCI is influenced by a variety of factors and must be individualized. Health professionals should consider these factors when supporting patients in making decisions about their treatment options.
Study design: Qualitative study using individual in-depth interviews.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
A comparative review of mobile health and electronic health utilization in sub-Saharan African countries

Bervell B, Al-Samarraie H

Soc Sci Med, 2019 07;232:1-16.
PMID: 31035241 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.024

This study distinguished between the application of e-health and m-health technologies in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries based on the dimensions of use, targeted diseases or health conditions, locations of use, and beneficiaries (types of patients or health workers) in a country specific context. It further characterized the main opportunities and challenges associated with these dimensions across the sub-region. A systematic review of the literature was conducted on 66 published peer reviewed articles. The review followed the scientific process of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines of identification, selection, assessment, synthesis and interpretation of findings. The results of the study showed that m-health was prevalent in usage for promoting information for treatment and prevention of diseases as well as serving as an effective technology for reminders towards adherence. For e-health, the uniqueness lay in data acquisition and patients' records management; diagnosis; training and recruitment. While m-health was never used for monitoring or training and recruitment, e-health on the other hand could not serve the purpose of reminders or for reporting cases from the field. Both technologies were however useful for adherence, diagnosis, disease control mechanisms, information provision, and decision-making/referrals. HIV/AIDS, malaria, and maternal (postnatal and antenatal) healthcare were important in both m-health and e-health interventions mostly concentrated in the rural settings of South Africa and Kenya. ICT infrastructure, trained personnel, illiteracy, lack of multilingual text and voice messages were major challenges hindering the effective usage of both m-health and e-health technologies.

Matched MeSH terms: Clinical Decision-Making/methods
Fulltext Teaching metacognition in clinical decision-making using a novel mnemonic checklist: an exploratory study

Chew KS, Durning SJ, van Merriënboer JJ

Singapore Med J, 2016 Dec;57(12):694-700.
PMID: 26778635 DOI: 10.11622/smedj.2016015

INTRODUCTION: Metacognition is a cognitive debiasing strategy that clinicians can use to deliberately detach themselves from the immediate context of a clinical decision, which allows them to reflect upon the thinking process. However, cognitive debiasing strategies are often most needed when the clinician cannot afford the time to use them. A mnemonic checklist known as TWED (T = threat, W = what else, E = evidence and D = dispositional factors) was recently created to facilitate metacognition. This study explores the hypothesis that the TWED checklist improves the ability of medical students to make better clinical decisions.
METHODS: Two groups of final-year medical students from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia, were recruited to participate in this quasi-experimental study. The intervention group (n = 21) received educational intervention that introduced the TWED checklist, while the control group (n = 19) received a tutorial on basic electrocardiography. Post-intervention, both groups received a similar assessment on clinical decision-making based on five case scenarios.
RESULTS: The mean score of the intervention group was significantly higher than that of the control group (18.50 ± 4.45 marks vs. 12.50 ± 2.84 marks, p < 0.001). In three of the five case scenarios, students in the intervention group obtained higher scores than those in the control group.
CONCLUSION: The results of this study support the use of the TWED checklist to facilitate metacognition in clinical decision-making.

Matched MeSH terms: Clinical Decision-Making/methods*
Fulltext Attitudes of rehabilitation medicine doctors toward medical ethics in Malaysia

Mazlina M, Julia PE

Singapore Med J, 2011 Jun;52(6):421-7.
PMID: 21731994

Medical ethics issues encountered in rehabilitation medicine differ from those in an acute care setting due to the complex relationships among the parties involved in rehabilitative care. The study examined the attitudes of Malaysian rehabilitation doctors toward medical ethics issues commonly encountered during patient care.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
Fulltext Weighted analysis of prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis B infection among antenatal mothers in Ipoh

Shamsuddin K, Marmuji LZ

Singapore Med J, 2010 Oct;51(10):800-5.
PMID: 21103816

Several strategies have been developed to reduce hepatitis B infections. These include antenatal screening, universal immunisation of newborns and immunoglobulin therapy for babies who are at risk. Antenatal screening for hepatitis B is not routinely performed, but all newborns in Malaysia are immunised against hepatitis B. We assessed the prevalence of hepatitis B and the factors associated with it among antenatal mothers in Ipoh. This information is useful in decision-making for future hepatitis B screening programmes for antenatal mothers, allowing for immunoglobulin therapies for newborns if their mother's hepatitis B virus (HBV) status is known.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
Fulltext Influences on the decision to use contraception among Sarawakian women with diabetes: a qualitative exploration

Law DS, Tan CE, Tong SF

Sex Reprod Health Matters, 2019 Dec;27(1):1571316.
PMID: 31533560 DOI: 10.1080/09688080.2019.1571316

Family planning is extremely important for women with diabetes due to the various health risks and other social impacts of pregnancy in this population. Unfortunately, contraceptive use among women with diabetes remains low. This study explored the reasons influencing the decision to use contraception among East Malaysian (Sarawakian) women with diabetes. This was an exploratory qualitative study conducted at an urban public health clinic in Sarawak. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 12 women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were audio recorded and transcribed and then subjected to interpretive thematic analysis. Five themes appear to influence the decision to use contraception: likelihood of becoming pregnant, desired family size, personal health risks associated with getting pregnant, social implications of getting pregnant, and opinions of significant others. Among Sarawakian women with diabetes, the decision to use contraception was influenced by more than just health-related factors. Contraception counselling for this group of women should factor in their health beliefs, personal values, and social factors. Community involvement and peer support are potential strategies to improve contraception use.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making*
Fulltext Design, Construction and Testing of IoT Based Automated Indoor Vertical Hydroponics Farming Test-Bed in Qatar

Chowdhury MEH, Khandakar A, Ahmed S, Al-Khuzaei F, Hamdalla J, Haque F, et al.

Sensors (Basel), 2020 Oct 02;20(19).
PMID: 33023097 DOI: 10.3390/s20195637

Growing plants in the gulf region can be challenging as it is mostly desert, and the climate is dry. A few species of plants have the capability to grow in such a climate. However, those plants are not suitable as a food source. The aim of this work is to design and construct an indoor automatic vertical hydroponic system that does not depend on the outside climate. The designed system is capable to grow common type of crops that can be used as a food source inside homes without the need of large space. The design of the system was made after studying different types of vertical hydroponic systems in terms of price, power consumption and suitability to be built as an indoor automated system. A microcontroller was working as a brain of the system, which communicates with different types of sensors to control all the system parameters and to minimize the human intervention. An open internet of things (IoT) platform was used to store and display the system parameters and graphical interface for remote access. The designed system is capable of maintaining healthy growing parameters for the plants with minimal input from the user. The functionality of the overall system was confirmed by evaluating the response from individual system components and monitoring them in the IoT platform. The system was consuming 120.59 and 230.59 kWh respectively without and with air conditioning control during peak summer, which is equivalent to the system running cost of 13.26 and 25.36 Qatari Riyal (QAR) respectively. This system was circulating around 104 k gallons of nutrient solution monthly however, only 8-10 L water was consumed by the system. This system offers real-time notifications to alert the hydroponic system user when the conditions are not favorable. So, the user can monitor several parameters without using laboratory instruments, which will allow to control the entire system remotely. Moreover, the system also provides a wide range of information, which could be essential for plant researchers and provides a greater understanding of how the key parameters of hydroponic system correlate with plant growth. The proposed platform can be used both for quantitatively optimizing the setup of the indoor farming and for automating some of the most labor-intensive maintenance activities. Moreover, such a monitoring system can also potentially be used for high-level decision making, once enough data will be collected. This work presents significant opportunities for the people who live in the gulf region to produce food as per their requirements.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
Fulltext Agreement Technologies for Energy Optimization at Home

González-Briones A, Chamoso P, De La Prieta F, Demazeau Y, Corchado JM

Sensors (Basel), 2018 May 19;18(5).
PMID: 29783768 DOI: 10.3390/s18051633

Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly common to deploy sensors in public buildings or homes with the aim of obtaining data from the environment and taking decisions that help to save energy. Many of the current state-of-the-art systems make decisions considering solely the environmental factors that cause the consumption of energy. These systems are successful at optimizing energy consumption; however, they do not adapt to the preferences of users and their comfort. Any system that is to be used by end-users should consider factors that affect their wellbeing. Thus, this article proposes an energy-saving system, which apart from considering the environmental conditions also adapts to the preferences of inhabitants. The architecture is based on a Multi-Agent System (MAS), its agents use Agreement Technologies (AT) to perform a negotiation process between the comfort preferences of the users and the degree of optimization that the system can achieve according to these preferences. A case study was conducted in an office building, showing that the proposed system achieved average energy savings of 17.15%.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
Fulltext A Distributed Testbed for 5G Scenarios: An Experimental Study

Chamran MK, Yau KA, Noor RMD, Wong R

Sensors (Basel), 2019 Dec 19;20(1).
PMID: 31861500 DOI: 10.3390/s20010018

This paper demonstrates the use of Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), together with Raspberry Pi3 B+ (RP3) as the brain (or the decision making engine), to develop a distributed wireless network in which nodes can communicate with other nodes independently and make decision autonomously. In other words, each USRP node (i.e., sensor) is embedded with separate processing units (i.e., RP3), which has not been investigated in the literature, so that each node can make independent decisions in a distributed manner. The proposed testbed in this paper is compared with the traditional distributed testbed, which has been widely used in the literature. In the traditional distributed testbed, there is a single processing unit (i.e., a personal computer) that makes decisions in a centralized manner, and each node (i.e., USRP) is connected to the processing unit via a switch. The single processing unit exchanges control messages with nodes via the switch, while the nodes exchange data packets among themselves using a wireless medium in a distributed manner. The main disadvantage of the traditional testbed is that, despite the network being distributed in nature, decisions are made in a centralized manner. Hence, the response delay of the control message exchange is always neglected. The use of such testbed is mainly due to the limited hardware and monetary cost to acquire a separate processing unit for each node. The experiment in our testbed has shown the increase of end-to-end delay and decrease of packet delivery ratio due to software and hardware delays. The observed multihop transmission is performed using device-to-device (D2D) communication, which has been enabled in 5G. Therefore, nodes can either communicate with other nodes via: (a) a direct communication with the base station at the macrocell, which helps to improve network performance; or (b) D2D that improve spectrum efficiency, whereby traffic is offloaded from macrocell to small cells. Our testbed is the first of its kind in this scale, and it uses RP3 as the distributed decision-making engine incorporated into the USRP/GNU radio platform. This work provides an insight to the development of a 5G network.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
Fulltext fNIRS-based functional connectivity estimation using semi-metric analysis to study decision making by nursing students and registered nurses

Chong JS, Chan YL, Ebenezer EGM, Chen HY, Kiguchi M, Lu CK, et al.

Sci Rep, 2020 12 16;10(1):22041.
PMID: 33328535 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79053-z

This study aims to investigate the generalizability of the semi-metric analysis of the functional connectivity (FC) for functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) by applying it to detect the dichotomy in differential FC under affective and neutral emotional states in nursing students and registered nurses during decision making. The proposed method employs wavelet transform coherence to construct FC networks and explores semi-metric analysis to extract network redundancy features, which has not been considered in conventional fNIRS-based FC analyses. The trials of the proposed method were performed on 19 nursing students and 19 registered nurses via a decision-making task under different emotional states induced by affective and neutral emotional stimuli. The cognitive activities were recorded using fNIRS, and the emotional stimuli were adopted from the International Affective Digitized Sound System (IADS). The induction of emotional effects was validated by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. The experimental results by the proposed method showed significant difference (FDR-adjusted p = 0.004) in the nursing students' cognitive FC network under the two different emotional conditions, and the semi-metric percentage (SMP) of the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) was found to be significantly higher than the left PFC (FDR-adjusted p = 0.036). The benchmark method (a typical weighted graph theory analysis) gave no significant results. In essence, the results support that the semi-metric analysis can be generalized and extended to fNIRS-based functional connectivity estimation.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making*
Fulltext Perception towards the preparedness for disaster management among nurses in community clinics

Fatimah Sham, Lailatul Hazzliza Musa, Nor Marini Mohamed, Norjah Othman

Scientific Research Journal, 2018;15(2):67-79.
MyJurnal

Disasters are defined as extraordinary events which occur abruptly, bringing great damage or harm, loss, and destruction to people and the environment. Nurses may have a more conflict and difficulties in disaster decision making where the victim condition need to be treated in disaster place. Nurses play a key role in hospital as a leaders and managers in the disaster operation and command center but limited data shows that the nurses experience in disaster management. The aim of this study is to evaluate the perception of knowledge and skills on the preparedness in disaster management among nurses in community clinics. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 27 government clinics in one of the states in Malaysia with a convenient sampling, 260 participants are selected. The questionnaire consisted of three sections; socio-demographic characteristics, the perception of knowledge and skill towards preparedness for disaster management rated on a Likert scale. In the effort to collect the intended data, a self-report questionnaire adapted and modified from Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET) was implemented (Alrazeeni, 2015). This study revealed that Nurses in these community clinics were moderate in terms of the perception of knowledge (Mean= 3.65, SD= 0.61) and the perceived skills (Mean= 3.68, SD= 0.56) on the preparedness in Disaster Management. Nevertheless, they were interested in disaster preparedness management training (n=227, 87.3%) and were confident as first responders of disaster (Mean= 3.88, SD= 0.61). However, they were not much involved in disaster preparedness plan (Mean= 3.23, SD= 0.90) and claimed that there was a lack of leadership figure in disaster situation (Mean= 3.06, SD= 0.92). In conclusion, nurses in community clinics need to gain knowledge and skills by involving themselves in disaster planning and drills as the preparation for disaster management for them to be the first responders in helping and managing people in this situation.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making
Attitudes Toward Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for Genetic Disorders Among Potential Users in Malaysia

Olesen AP, Nor SN, Amin L

Sci Eng Ethics, 2016 Feb;22(1):133-46.
PMID: 25724710 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-015-9639-z

While pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is available and legal in Malaysia, there is an ongoing controversy debate about its use. There are few studies available on individuals' attitudes toward PGD, particularly among those who have a genetic disease, or whose children have a genetic disease. To the best of our knowledge, this is, in fact, the first study of its kind in Malaysia. We conducted in-depth interviews, using semi-structured questionnaires, with seven selected potential PGD users regarding their knowledge, attitudes and decisions relating to the use PGD. The criteria for selecting potential PGD users were that they or their children had a genetic disease, and they desired to have another child who would be free of genetic disease. All participants had heard of PGD and five of them were considering its use. The participants' attitudes toward PGD were based on several different considerations that were influenced by various factors. These included: the benefit-risk balance of PGD, personal experiences of having a genetic disease, religious beliefs, personal values and cost. The study's findings suggest that the selected Malaysian participants, as potential PGD users, were supportive but cautious regarding the use of PGD for medical purposes, particularly in relation to others whose experiences were similar. More broadly, the paper highlights the link between the participants' personal experiences and their beliefs regarding the appropriateness, for others, of individual decision-making on PGD, which has not been revealed by previous studies.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making*
Islamic bioethical deliberation on the issue of newborns with disorders of sex development

Mohamed MS, Noor SN

Sci Eng Ethics, 2015 Apr;21(2):429-40.
PMID: 24664170 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-014-9534-z

This article presents the Islamic bioethical deliberation on the issue of sex assignment surgery (SAS) for infants with disorders of sex development (DSD) or intersexed as a case study. The main objective of this study is to present a different approach in assessing a biomedical issue within the medium of the Maqasid al-Shari'ah. Within the framework of the maqasidic scheme of benefits and harms, any practice where benefits are substantial is considered permissible, while those promoting harms are prohibited. The concept of Maqasid al-Shari'ah which is the mechanistic interpretation of Qur'an and Hadith presents the holistic attention of Islam on many life activities, including healthcare. Indeed, this concept encompasses many aspects of worldly life, both for the human individual and collectively for the whole society. In healthcare, the practice of SAS on DSD newborns has presented an assortment of implications on the future livelihood of the affected individual. The process of decision-making seems to be very multifaceted since every element such as the determination of the 'correct' sex and the urgency of early surgery must consider the benefits and harms, as well as the child's rights and best interest. The application of the concept of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, would convey a pragmatic approach that is often disregarded in Western medicine. This approach considers the right of the individual to live life optimally, individually and socially and practice his faith, precisely, in accordance with the assigned gender.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making/ethics*
Teaching engineering ethics using BLOCKS game

Lau SW, Tan TP, Goh SM

Sci Eng Ethics, 2013 Sep;19(3):1357-73.
PMID: 23065541 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-012-9406-3

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of a newly developed design game called BLOCKS to stimulate awareness of ethical responsibilities amongst engineering students. The design game was played by seventeen teams of chemical engineering students, with each team having to arrange pieces of colored paper to produce two letters each. Before the end of the game, additional constraints were introduced to the teams such that they faced similar ambiguity in the technical facts that the engineers involved in the Challenger disaster had faced prior to the space shuttle launch. At this stage, the teams had to decide whether to continue with their original design or to develop alternative solutions. After the teams had made their decisions, a video of the Challenger explosion was shown followed by a post-game discussion. The students' opinion on five Statements on ethics was tracked via a Five-Item Likert survey which was administered three times, before and after the ethical scenario was introduced, and after the video and post-game discussion. The results from this study indicated that the combination of the game and the real-life incident from the video had generally strengthened the students' opinions of the Statements.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making/ethics*
Engineering Ethics Education: A Comparative Study of Japan and Malaysia

Balakrishnan B, Tochinai F, Kanemitsu H

Sci Eng Ethics, 2019 08;25(4):1069-1083.
PMID: 29569171 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-018-0051-3

This paper reports the findings of a comparative study in which students' perceived attainment of the objectives of an engineering ethics education and their attitude towards engineering ethics were investigated and compared. The investigation was carried out in Japan and Malaysia, involving 163 and 108 engineering undergraduates respectively. The research method used was based on a survey in which respondents were sent a questionnaire to elicit relevant data. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed on the data. The results of the analyses showed that the attainment of the objectives of engineering ethics education and students' attitude towards socio-ethical issues in engineering were significantly higher and positive among Japanese engineering students compared to Malaysian engineering students. Such findings suggest that a well-structured, integrated, and innovative pedagogy for teaching ethics will have an impact on the students' attainment of ethics education objectives and their attitude towards engineering ethics. As such, the research findings serve as a cornerstone to which the current practice of teaching and learning of engineering ethics education can be examined more critically, such that further improvements can be made to the existing curriculum that can help produce engineers that have strong moral and ethical characters.

Matched MeSH terms: Decision Making/ethics

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