Comparison of Patient Safety Ethics of Health Professionals: A Qualitative Content Analysis of the Ethical Principles by the Type of Profession

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the similarities and differences in patient safety ethical principles according to the type of healthcare professional defined by South Korea’s legislation.Methods: This comparative study used a qualitative content analysis of the patient safety ethical principles established by the central associations of each profession. In July 2024, we collected ethical principles, including codes of ethics, guidelines, charters, oaths, and declarations. 17 out of 20 types of healthcare professionals’ ethical principles were analyzed by unitizing, sampling, recording, coding, reducing, abductively inferring, and narrating.Results: Among the 20 types of health professionals, including medical personnel and health and medical services personnel, oriental medicine pharmacists and sanitarians did not have ethical principles. Physicians, nurses, and dentists do not threaten patient safety in common with their own conditions or practices. The ethical principles of healthcare professionals in the same clinical setting are not unified in either form or content.Conclusion: Healthcare professionals require a unified ethical basis to share core ethical values and patient safety cultures. Furthermore, a cross-sectional survey or focus group discussion evaluating knowledge, attitudes, and practices of patient safety ethics may provide more scientific evidence for amending ethical principles.