Last Wednesday, November 22nd, Dr. Sandra Martins, professor at the Portuguese Catholic University of Porto and researcher in the field of Palliative Care, shared a seminar at the WeCare Chair. The seminar, aimed at discussing aspects related to the ethics of research in Palliative Care, brought together members of the WeCare Chair, other UIC researchers as well as collaborators in the Chair’s research projects from Palliative Care teams in our environment.
In the first part, Dr. Martins, together with Dr. Pablo Hernández-Marrero, from the same institution, focused her speech on the ethical-clinical challenges in the recruitment of patients and family members in Palliative Care research. Aspects of vulnerabilities and ethics in research were discussed, stressing the need for research in situations of advanced disease while preserving the necessary respect for the entire ethical process. The necessary distinction between cognitive, medical and resource vulnerabilities, among others, was pointed out, as well as the particularities of the ethics of research on people with cognitive impairment. Finally, co-design strategies in the context of end-of-life research with the necessary interaction with clinical research ethics committees were pointed out.
Dr. Martins completed her stay at WeCare by participating as a tribunal of the doctoral thesis of the researcher of the chair Blanca Goñi-Fusté and in a meeting with the research team of WeCare where projects were shared between the two teams and future lines of communication were outlined.
