Search

BackgroundIn the past decade, Lynn Etheredge presented a vision for the Learning Health System (LHS) as an opportunity for increasing the value of health care via rapid learning from data and immediate translation to practice and policy. An LHS is defined in the literature as a system that seeks to continuously generate and apply evidence, innovation, quality, and value in health care. ObjectiveThis review aimed to examine themes in the literature and rhetoric on the LHS in the past decade to understand efforts to realize the LHS in practice and to identify gaps and opportunities to continue to take the LHS forward. MethodsWe conducted a thematic analysis in 2018 to analyze progress and opportunities over time as compared with the initial Knowledge Gaps and Uncertainties proposed in 2007. ResultsWe found that the literature on the LHS has increased over the past decade, with most articles focused on theory and implementation; articles have been increasingly concerned with policy. ConclusionsThere is a need for attention to understanding the ethical and social implications of the LHS and for exploring opportunities to ensure that these implications are salient in implementation, practice, and policy efforts.

Analysis of how papers and databases are handled and interpreted shows that geneticists in Europe must stamp out unethical research practices at home, not just abroad. Analysis of how papers and databases are handled and interpreted shows that geneticists in Europe must stamp out unethical research practices at home, not just abroad., Author(s): Veronika Lipphardt, Mihai Surdu, Nils Ellebrecht, Peter Pfaffelhuber, Matthias Wienroth, Gudrun A. Rappold Author Affiliations: Europe's Roma people are vulnerable to poor practice in genetics A Roma woman on [...]

In the forensic genetics community, too often one can find what we have called "noble cause casuistry": scientists believing that, "since we are catching criminals, any ethical shortfalls in our work are negated by good outcomes." Such casuistry is also characterized by the extrapolation of "success" in individual case work to assumptions of reliability and usefulness for all forensic genetic applications, in all contexts. The increasing and deepening interaction of forensic (epi)genetics technologies with broader surveillance logics, is also rarely problematized within the community, with a notable reticence to address fundamental and complex questions about the role of forensic genetics in society. Furthermore, despite some initial progress, forensic genetics largely remains content to be guided by "thin" empiricist ethics, foregrounding notions that "maths does not lie," with little acknowledgement of the serious limitations of this approach. Outside of laboratory settings, social and cultural effects of forensic genetics technology alter regardless of the "maths." As such, the field needs to adopt an ethos that centralizes and deepens their ethical bona fides, approaching ethics as "lived practice," with community accountability similar to other public‐serving professions and disciplines. This could commence with a commitment to professionalism, with a robust ethos grounded in both integrity and social justice. This article is categorized under:Forensic Biology > Ethical and Social Implications [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Watson and Huey, in a 2020 article in this Journal, point out that there is still little empirical research offering a practice-focused perspective. This Special Issue responds to that call by offering a variety of empirically and theoretically informed studies centred on technology use in the policing of crime, borders and society more widely (e.g. surveillance). Contributions are inspired by Adam Crawford's insightful notion of policing 'as a product of new technologies' and Andrew Barry's reflective analysis of technical practices and devices as integral elements of organising and governing a 'technological society'. These inspirations reflect the interplay of policing requirements and practices, and the development, deployment and governance of technologies. A vital element of understanding and managing policing is the study of how technologies are imagined, adopted and overseen, to contribute to the understanding and anticipation of changing policing practices and needs. Two key elements are addressed in this Special Issue: (a) technological knowledge production, and the shaping of such knowledge in policing practices and institutional cultures, informing discourses on intelligence-led policing and evidence-based policing; and (b) the role of technology in creating legitimacy for policing. Eight contributions provide analyses of 'technology in policing as it happens' in practice-relevant case studies and reflections on developments. They address a broad spread of technologies, including drones, artificial intelligence firearms, forensic applications and social media. In attending to these examples, the authors shed light on vital aspects of policing that have so far been underexplored, using a mix of approaches from the social studies of science and technology, and from sociology/criminology. To ensure accessibility to a variety of reader groups, each article includes a section highlighting lessons learnt for understanding the policing in a technological society. This Special Issue is the first in the International Journal of Police Science & Management to bring a comprehensive discussion of technology to the Journal's audience. At the same time, it opens up the Journal's interests in policing to wider audiences, including those in science, technology and innovation studies, as well as criminology, by innovatively merging the interests of the three in the subject of its contributions. Contributing authors analyse and evaluate the opportunities and challenges of technology in policing with those for policing in a technological society. In doing so, the complexity of the relationship of technology and policing is made accessible, evidencing that, as Timmermans and Berg wrote, technology is always 'technology-in-practice'. Context is vital, technology is not necessarily used as intended, and its application cannot be considered neutral but must be understood as in interplay with diverse other knowledge practices (investigatory, prosecutorial, judicial, institutional, societal, etc.). This Special Issue is a starting point and call to continue work on supporting deliberation, widening the scope of perspectives to be involved, and seeking communication and collaboration across institutional and disciplinary boundaries: tearing down forts (silos) and building fords (crossings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: UK Hospital Trusts are charged with increasing patients’ research awareness and willingness to take part in research. This includes implementing strategies to encourage patient‐initiated enquiries about participation. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a research statement inserted in outpatient letters in one clinical service, and to derive suggestions on potential steps towards increasing patient‐initiated recruitment. Setting: A medical outpatient clinic of a research‐active hospital trust, serving an inner‐city multi‐ethnic population across two boroughs. Methods: Pre‐intervention and post‐intervention questionnaires were administered face‐to‐face to new patients. Questionnaires included closed questions and one open comments section. Data were analysed for frequencies, with thematic coding of open‐ended responses. Results: The response rates were 87% for the pre‐intervention survey and 92% for the post‐intervention survey. In the post‐intervention survey, 85% of patients did not notice the research statement in the letter. More than half found the statement “a little unclear,” whilst one‐third considered it “clear.” Three‐quarters of respondents perceived the statement to be “a little helpful.” Only one person enquired about participating in clinical research having read the statement in the outpatient letter. Conclusion: The analysis suggests that simple, single‐solution approaches such as including research statements in outpatient letters are unlikely to be sufficient to significantly facilitate patient‐initiated recruitment. Recruitment efforts need to take into consideration the diversity of patient constituencies including the reasons they seek health care, and how patients can meaningfully access information (research literacy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the nature of four waves of technological innovations in forensic genetics alongside the social, legal and ethical aspect of these innovations. It emphasises the way in which technological advances and their socio-legal frameworks are co-produced, shaping technology expectations, social identities, and legal institutions. It also considers how imagined and actual uses of forensic genetic technologies are entangled with assertions about social order, affirmations of common values and civil rights, and promises about security and justice. Our comments seek to encourage the participation of scientific actors in the development of anticipatory governance deliberations concerning the widening application of forensic genetics in an increasing number of criminal and civil jurisdictions.

Reproduction and the family are central elements in the lives of people, and in the narratives and practices of diverse cultures and societies. In the development of ever more powerful techniques of assisted reproduction a number of questions have emerged. They lie at the heart of what it means to reproduce, to be a parent, to be a human being. Reproductive technologies and their consideration influence perceptions and practices in regard to reproduction and beyond, thus embodying anthropological implications for the understanding of family, motherhood, health, offspring, responsibility and others. Technological capabilities and socio-cultural perceptions are strongly intertwined. The role of bioethics in this context is to explore human nascency as a process. To better understand this process and its implications for human life both medical and social, we suggest considering different perspectives on reproductive technologies to widen our understanding. These perspectives range from the potential child and its parents to health care professionals and the state. In expanding our perception of reproduction, social scientific methods can help to situate philosophical and ethical issues, thus rendering bioethical examination of reproductive technologies more socially robust. In this paper, we provide an overview of several bioethical key themes in assisted reproduction: methodological questions in regard to providing better understanding of this field, selective and inclusive social aspects of assisted reproduction, financial and governance considerations, and an applied consideration of the IVF research interface.