Dear Colleagues,

Ethical issues are garnering increasing attention in routine healthcare delivery, as ever new dilemmas arise in the course of care for physicians, patients and families.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a particularly profound impact on healthcare systems and healthcare delivery worldwide, and has shone a spotlight on ethical questions, fears and contemplations. In particular, situations that arise unexpectedly, without being discussed or anticipated, may create situations in which decision-making is complex, and sometimes unjustified or misguided decisions may ensue, thereby generating potential distress for all concerned.

There is clearly a compelling need to for healthcare workers, politicians, and society in general to give serious thought to ethical reflections and research results from the field, based on the real-life experience of patients. This will help to prepare us to rise to new ethical challenges, and deliver appropriate healthcare with thoughtfulness and humanism.

We are therefore pleased to announce this special issue dedicated to the importance of ethics in healthcare. We invite contributions in areas including (but not limited to) the following:

• The values underpinning healthcare delivery in the 21^st century, in a variety of cultural backgrounds and healthcare systems
• Quality of life at work and the attractiveness of the healthcare professions
• Anticipating healthcare pathways and goals of care
• How to take account of social (and other) vulnerability in the healthcare pathway
• The ethics of research, and research in ethics.

We welcome reviews, perspectives, short communications, and original research articles. Qualitative research will also be given particular attention.

We hope that this special issue will raise the awareness of the importance of systematic and well-grounded ethical reflection on the meaning of healthcare delivery, centred on the patient, but also on healthcare workers. We need to collectively engage in constructive critique of current practices, in order to lay the foundations for ethical future healthcare delivery.

We look forward to your contributions!

Dr. Fiona Ecarnot
Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Quenot
Dr. Jean-Philippe Rigaud
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• ethics
• critical care
• end-of-life
• advance care planning
• advance directives
• quality of life at work