scholarly journals Health care ethics programs in U.S. Hospitals: results from a National Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Danis ◽  
Ellen Fox ◽  
Anita Tarzian ◽  
Christopher C. Duke
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Regulatory Compliance ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Health Care Ethics ◽  
Ethics Programs ◽  
Financial Compensation ◽  
Urban Hospitals

Abstract Background As hospitals have grown more complex, the ethical concerns they confront have grown correspondingly complicated. Many hospitals have consequently developed health care ethics programs (HCEPs) that include far more than ethics consultation services alone. Yet systematic research on these programs is lacking. Methods Based on a national, cross-sectional survey of a stratified sample of 600 US hospitals, we report on the prevalence, scope, activities, staffing, workload, financial compensation, and greatest challenges facing HCEPs. Results Among 372 hospitals whose informants responded to an online survey, 97% of hospitals have HCEPs. Their scope includes clinical ethics functions in virtually all hospitals, but includes other functions in far fewer hospitals: ethical leadership (35.7%), regulatory compliance (29.0%), business ethics (26.2%), and research ethics (12.6%). HCEPs are responsible for providing ongoing ethics education to various target audiences including all staff (77.0%), nurses (59.9%), staff physicians (49.0%), hospital leadership (44.2%), medical residents (20.3%) and the community/general public (18.4%). HCEPs staff are most commonly involved in policy work through review of existing policies but are less often involved in development of new policies. HCEPs have an ethics representative in executive leadership in 80.5% of hospitals, have representation on other hospital committees in 40.7%, are actively engaged in community outreach in 22.6%, and lead large-scale ethics quality improvement initiatives in 17.7%. In general, major teaching hospitals and urban hospitals have the most highly integrated ethics programs with the broadest scope and greatest number of activities. Larger hospitals, academically affiliated hospitals, and urban hospitals have significantly more individuals performing HCEP work and significantly more individuals receiving financial compensation specifically for that work. Overall, the most common greatest challenge facing HCEPs is resource shortages, whereas underutilization is the most common greatest challenge for hospitals with fewer than 100 beds. Respondents’ strategies for managing challenges include staff training and additional funds. Conclusions While this study must be cautiously interpreted due to its limitations, the findings may be useful for understanding the characteristics of HCEPs in US hospitals and the factors associated with these characteristics. This information may contribute to exploring ways to strengthen HCEPs.

Ethics Education of Medical Staff and Associates

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Erica Laethem ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Health Care Ethics ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Faith And Reason ◽  
Catholic Health Care

Ethics education is an essential obligation of a robust health care ethics service. Although there is no one-size-fits all approach, all ethics education should be proactive and therefore should avoid portraying ethics as mere compliance with moral norms or as an esoteric activity that applies only in cases of moral conflict. Such a negative approach can lead to an ethics of minimums and to the disempowerment of moral agency. In addition, ethics education should promote ethics competency and virtue for the sake of human flourishing through instruction and habituation. To serve the individuals from diverse backgrounds who work in Catholic health care, ethics education should reflect the Catholic teaching that faith and reason are compatible, and that ethics need not be bound to an exclusively theological approach. This will foster a flourishing moral community where medical staff and associates are united by a common mission and ethical commitments.

scholarly journals Team-Based Learning in Medical Ethics Education: Evaluation and Preferences of Students in Oman

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Simon
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Health Care Ethics ◽  
Medical Ethics Education ◽  
Team Based Learning ◽  
Ethics Course ◽  
The Impact

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of integrating team-based learning sessions in undergraduate medical ethics education. Though used effectively in other pre-clinical courses, team-based learning is not frequently used in medical ethics education. Student’s accountability for learning, preference for team-based learning, and satisfaction were studied. Methods: Three team-based learning sessions covering focal topics in medical ethics was introduced in the pre-clinical Health Care Ethics course for students at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, National University of Science and Technology. On the completion of three modules, the team-based learning student assessment instrument (TBL-SAI) by Heidi Mennenga was used to evaluate student perceptions. To this aim, 118 students who had registered for the Health Care Ethics course completed the survey. Results: The findings indicated that students reported a positive experience of team-based learning in medical ethics education. Students also indicated high accountability for their learning, a high preference for team-based learning to lectures in the medical ethics course, and high satisfaction. Conclusions: Team-based learning is thus preferred by students to cover topics and courses in medical ethics. Integrating team-based modules in medical ethics education will enhance self-directed learning, improve teamwork, and help students effectively recall and apply information. It is therefore recommended to integrate team-based learning sessions in medical ethics education.

scholarly journals The Catholic Church in America, the Discipline of Bioethics, and the Culture of Life

2011 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-436
Author(s):  
Mark S. Latkovic
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Health Care Ethics ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

In this paper, I will first briefly discuss why the Catholic Church has always had and continues to have such a great concern for bioethics or health-care ethics, while I also highlight the biblical roots of this concern. Secondly, I will describe some of the ways in which the Catholic Church in America has exercised a positive influence in the field of bioethics, or what was in the mid-twentieth century often called medical ethics. Thirdly, I will sketch how and why the Church has to a large extent lost this influence, tracing how secularization both inside and outside the Church contributed to the destruction of the so-called “Catholic ghetto” and to the assimilation of ideas from the culture that were often alien to the Gospel and sound moral reasoning. Finally, I will offer some general reflections on how the Church can regain her influence in this area—especially with the goal in mind of building a culture of life in American society—and how Catholic scholars in particular can contribute to this effort by following the lead of the late Pope John Paul II's 1995 encyclical on bioethics, Evangelium vitae, whose twentieth anniversary is fast approaching.

Medical and Nursing Ethics: Never the Twain?

1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Nursing Practice ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Health Care Ethics ◽  
Nursing Ethics ◽  
Nel Noddings ◽  
Shared Learning ◽  
Caring Relationship

Since the publication of Carol Gilligan's In a different voice in 1982, there has been much discussion about masculine and feminine approaches to ethics. It has been suggested that an ethics of care, or a feminine ethics, is more appropriate for nursing practice, which contrasts with the 'traditional, masculine' ethics of medicine. It has been suggested that Nel Noddings' version of an 'ethics of care' (or feminine ethics) is an appropriate model for nursing ethics. The 'four principles' approach has become a popular model for medical or health care ethics. It will be suggested in this article that, whilst Noddings presents an interesting analysis of caring and the caring relationship, this has limitations. Rather than acting as an alternative to the 'four principles' approach, the latter is necessary to provide a framework to structure thinking and decision-making in health care. Further, it will be suggested that ethical separatism (that is, one ethics for nurses and one for doctors) in health care is not a progressive step for nurses or doctors. Three recommendations are made: that we promote a health care ethics that incorporates what is valuable in a 'traditional, masculine ethics', the why (four principles approach) and an 'ethics of care', the 'how' (aspects of Noddings' work and that of Urban Walker); that we encourage nurses and doctors to participate in the 'shared learning' and discussion of ethics; and that our ethical language and concerns are common to all, not split into unhelpful dichotomies.

Liability of Health Care Ethics Consultants

1994 ◽  
pp. 133-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Lowenstein ◽  
Jeanne DesBrisay
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Health Care Ethics
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