Can Diversity Be an Opportunity to Enhance Ethics? Findings from a Multinational Survey in the Context of Trauma and Emergency Surgery

Ethics stands today as a primary pillar of modern medicine, and no medical specialty represents an exception. Acute care and trauma (AC&T) surgery is a complex clinical field, often characterized by high time pressure and little knowledge about the patient and circumstances. Our investigation wishes to deepen the role of diversity in AC&T teams as an opportunity to enhance ethics. The study, endorsed by the World Society of Emergency Surgery, analyses 402 questionnaires gathered from medical professionals from 72 countries, investigating three ethical issues (namely, patient’s informed consent as a knowledge translation tool, the team leader as an ethical leader, and ethics as an educational subject). Findings underline the potential of diversity to enhance the attention towards ethical matters, offering food for thought to hospital managers and healthcare professionals.