Ethics in health services in disaster management: The Ankara case of the National Medical Rescue Team

It is very important to pay attention to disaster ethics at all stages of the disaster management process. The objective of this study are to explore the experiences of health professionals voluntarily engaged in UMKE (National Medical Rescue Team) in the Ankara province during disasters, identify the situations these professionals encounter concerning disaster ethics, examine their approaches to ethical dilemmas in disaster intervention, and ascertain their training needs and preferences in this domain. The research adopts a cross-sectional and observational survey design. The "Binding Vignette Method" is employed to elicit socio-demographic information, details about experienced disasters, response processes, educational backgrounds in disaster ethics, especially during intervention phases, and their responses to ethical dilemmas in disasters. A structured survey form made by researchers is utilized for UMKE employees. The study investigates UMKE personnel's reactions to "short disaster scenarios". The findings reveal that 35% of UMKE personnel have received training in Disaster Ethics, 54% have participated in disaster planning, 76% have taken part in drills, 44% have been involved in actual disaster situations, 25% have directly experienced disasters to date, and 10% have encountered ethical dilemmas. Consequently, it is observed that UMKE personnel have not received Disaster Ethics training at the desired rate, and that they generally did not feel competent in this regard. Conversely, those who have received training exhibit significantly higher activity levels across all stages of the disaster management process. Moreover, there is a consensus that disaster ethics training should be integrated at all levels due to its perceived importance. Furthermore, it is evident that there is considerable interest in disaster scenarios, and respondents occasionally face challenges in approaching ethical dilemmas. To address these issues, training materials designed to enhance awareness about disaster ethics have been developed and presented based on pertinent disaster scenarios. This training module preparation is expected to contribute to more ethically appropriate decision-making by UMKE personnel.