Nurses and Physicians Find Ethics Consults Helpful, But for Different Reasons
Ethicists are challenged to meet the needs of everyone involved during an ethics consult. Now, ethicists can turn to some new data on how those differ.
Researchers surveyed 842 employees at a children’s hospital about their use of ethics services.1 “The profession-specific reasons for seeking ethics consultation were very striking,” says Jay R. Malone, MD, PhD, HEC-C, medical director of ethics and chair of the ethics committee at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Nurses mainly appreciated receiving help with communication and relational benefits. For example, nurses wanted to put team members on the same page, give everyone a voice at the table, or clarify differences in perspectives among stakeholders.
Physicians were more likely to report normative benefits, such as recommendations on how to move forward with a case, sharing results from prior cases, or informing the team of specific regulations or procedural requirements.
Overall, the study highlights the importance of clarifying the reasons for ethics consultation, according to Malone. Ethicists can do this during the initial intake process, to understand how they can be most helpful to the medical team.
“Hospitals should allow all team members to request ethics consultations, because they may be asking for help for very different reasons,” Malone adds.
Ethics committees can use their influence in the hospital setting to encourage administrative procedures that motivate all team members to seek ethics consults. “While many hospitals have adopted policies that technically allow for all team members to call for ethics consultation, ethics committees can work to ensure that hospital culture is encouraging team members to do so,” Malone says.
REFERENCE
1. Friedrich AB, Kohlberg EM, Malone JR. Perceived benefits of ethics consultation differ by profession: A qualitative survey study. AJOB Empir Bioeth 2022 Jul 20;1-5. doi: 10.1080/23294515.2022.2093423. [Online ahead of print].
Ethicists are challenged to meet the needs of everyone involved during an ethics consult. Now, ethicists can turn to some new data on how those differ.
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