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Polish Research Ethics Committees in the European Union System of Assessing Medical Experiments

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Abstract

The Polish equivalents of Research Ethics Committees are Bioethics Committees (BCs). A questionnaire study has been undertaken to determine their situation. The BC is usually comprised of 13 members. Nine of these are doctors and four are non-doctors. In 2006 BCs assessed an average of 27.3 ± 31.7 (range: 0–131) projects of clinical trials and 71.1 ± 139.8 (range: 0–638) projects of other types of medical research. During one BC meeting an average of 10.3 ± 14.7 (range: 0–71) projects of medical research were assessed (2006). The amendment of Polish laws according with Directive 2001/20/EC caused a percentage increase in BCs which assessed less than 20 projects per year (16% vs. 33% or 42% in 2003 vs. 2005 or 2006 respectively, p < 0,05). The results confirm the usefulness of the current practice of creating BCs by medical universities, medical institutes and regional chambers of physicians and dentists but rationalization of the workload for individual BCs is necessary.

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Notes

  1. The Rector of the Medical University of Gdansk, Prof. Z. Brzozowski’s letter to Prof. S. Raszeja appointing him as the Head of the Team for Deontological Assessment of Scientific Research on the day of 15.01.1979r. R.013-1/78/79––the author retains a copy.

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Acknowledgements

The Authors would like to thank Ms Jolanta Wysocka for her help in preparing and sending out the questionnaire forms to the BCs. This research was conducted thanks to funding from the Center of Bioethics of the Supreme Medical Council and the Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine of the Medical University of Warsaw.

Conflict of Interest

M. Czarkowski is the Chairman of the BC of the Warsaw Chamber of Physicians and Dentists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, ul. Banacha 1a, 02-097, Warszawa, Poland

    Marek Czarkowski

  2. Center of Bioethics of the Supreme Medical Council, ul. Sobieskiego 110, 00-764, Warszawa, Poland

    Marek Czarkowski

  3. Aviation Bioengineering Department, Military Institute of Aviation Medicine, ul. Krasińskiego 54, 01-755, Warszawa, Poland

    Krzysztof Różanowski

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  1. Marek Czarkowski
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  2. Krzysztof Różanowski
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Correspondence to Marek Czarkowski.

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Czarkowski, M., Różanowski, K. Polish Research Ethics Committees in the European Union System of Assessing Medical Experiments. Sci Eng Ethics 15, 201–212 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-009-9113-x

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