de Vries, Esther
Leal Arenas, Fabián Alexander
van der Heide, Agnes
Gempeler Rueda, Fritz E.
Murillo, Raul
Morales, Olga
Diaz-Amado, Eduardo
Rodríguez, Nelcy
Gonzalez, Beatriz Juliana
Castilblanco Delgado, Danny Steven
Calvache, Jose A.
Article History
Received: 1 March 2021
Accepted: 20 September 2021
First Online: 18 October 2021
Declarations
:
: The study protocol was approved by the research ethics committees at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (number FM-CIE-0086-17) and NCI (Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, number INT-OFI-03581-2019). The physicians answered the questionnaire anonymously, no information on specialization, age, sex or years or experience of the participating physician was collected. Given the very sensitive nature of these decisions, which may sometimes be questionable or go against the policies of individual institutions, guaranteeing anonymity of the physicians was key to the success of this project, which implies impossibility to request informed consent (which has to be signed with identifying information). The medical ethics committees of the participating institutions studied the study protocol and allowed the researchers to omit the signed informed consent procedures which would normally apply. Neither the identified patients nor the physician signed, and no identifying information on either was registered. However, the invitation explained the objectives of the study and explicitly stated that participation was voluntary and completely anonymous. Each participating institution had a listing of the patient study codes and identifying information, kept by the research assistants, who had no access to the databases. This linking information was destroyed after the data had been collected to ensure anonymity; the researchers did not know the patients’ nor the physicians’ identifying information. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant local and international guidelines and regulations.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.