be some provisions for alternative effective care.42 Finally, Brink and Wood recommend that withholding benefits can be rectified at the end of an experiment.41 This compensation must be planned in advance so that enough money and time will be available. In order to prevent human exploitation, ethics committees were introduced.3 The criteria on which the proposals are to be judged are the physical and mental discomfort or harm of subject, the qualifications and experience of the supervisor, the scientific value, the adequate consent procedures and the adequate information given to subjects.43 Clark warns that there is a danger that the members may have vested interests in a research.3 The success of any ethics committee will always depend on the commitment and moral competency of its members. If instead of the patient and his needs, the central aims of the committee are personal interests, profits and academic prestige, then nurses will have none to share their concerns with, and deal with their dilemmas in research.1 Nurses, need a greater accessibility to committees and demand a multidisciplinary synthesis in order to deal with very difficult cases.26 Moreover, the committees should be less strict so as not to prevent knowledge development in nursing. Confidentiality The issue of confidentiality which is stated as very important in the Hippocratic oath, is another possible issue of conflict for nurses either as practitioners or researchers. Clause 10 of the ICN Code for nurses emphasises that all information obtained during nursing practice should be kept secret apart from cases that it should be reported in a court, or in cases that the interests of society are important.9 On the other hand the ICN Code for nurses in research states that: "Nurses acting as data collectors must recognise that they are now committed to two separate roles " .26 According to the professional code they can not reveal confidential information not even to the members of the research team. It is important therefore, to seek advice in ethics committees to get approval for disseminating the results of the data collection including an account of what happened.26 In addition, they have to deal with the issue of anonymity when some features of the research make the subjects easy to identify.15 It is very important that nurses always bear in mind that they should HEALTH SCIENCE JOURNAL ® VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1 (2011) What are the Major Ethical Issues in Conducting Research? Is there a Conflict between the Research Ethics and the Nature of Nursing? pp: 3-14 E-ISSN:1791-809X www.hsj.gr Health Science Journal® All Rights Reserved 11 protect the privacy of the patient. The trust showed to them must not be jeopardised. Patients reveal information concerning their body and mind and expect them to be used only in a therapeutic manner. When dilemmas according to confidentiality arise, trust as a basic element of a therapeutic relationship should be considered and maintained.9 Informed consent Nurses involved in research, have to consider many ethical problems relating to the issue of informed consent. The ICN code for nurses in research, states that nurses as practitioners may be called upon to witness that informed and voluntary consent has been obtained from the subjects of research. It suggests that they should make sure that patients have fully understood what has been proposed, which means that they are aware of potential risks or discomforts. Nurses who spend more time with patients are in a good position to judge it. In addition, they must ascertain that patients have understood their right to withdraw at any time. In order to maintain the self-determination of patients, nurses must be fully informed themselves about the study and its purpose.44 The patient's consent should be obtained freely, with full awareness of implications. If nurses find out that it was not obtained in an appropriate manner, they should inform patient and refuse co-operation. Webb suggests that the informed consent is an obligation of the researcher and no nurse should obtain it on behalf of another professional, nor agree to give the explanation as a substitute.40 If a nurse tries to get a consent, then the persons will