The current project seeks to adhere to all the ethical requirements when conducting a project according to Hospital X’s parent organization, Eastern Health (EH). EH’s code of conduct and ethics guidelines are constituted under the Australian Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (2018) which has been provided in Appendix 4. Prior to the commencement of the project, the quality and assurance audit registration forms were completed and submitted to the EH’s Ethics Committee as a part of the protocol for conducting a research under EH. Considering the project as a low to negligible risk according to the checklist provided in Appendix 5, ethical approval from EH was not required. However, an informed verbal consent would be obtained from the participants before the commencement of the education sessions. The participants would also be selected randomly. The participants would be allowed to be involved in the project voluntarily and would be at liberty to withdraw from the project at any given point in time without pressures or obligations.
During the pre and post-test phases, the researcher would not be present in the education room while the participants submit the questionnaires in the ballot box. This is to prevent the researcher from recognizing the participants and their answers so that anonymity and confidentiality of participants would remain well within the boundaries of ethics. The answers from the paper ballots would be stored in a locked cabinet and the researcher would keep the keys securely until the paper forms are shredded. The results of the paper forms would be converted to specific coding and stored appropriately in the computer. After the research, the data would be destroyed according to data management as provided by NHMRC (2018). The outcome from the project plan would not affect any personnel who are involved in the project; the project only aims to improve the quality of health care to the ICU patients.