Medical Ethics Advisor
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Remote Ethics Consults Help With Growing Demand for Onsite Ethics
Despite inherent limitations when the ethicist’s input comes instead from a screen or phone, some hospitals are moving toward remote ethics consults. Lack of robust ethics expertise onsite and a surge in demand are contributing factors.
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Oregon POLST Being Completed More Often and Earlier
Of Oregonians who died between 2015 and 2016, 45% had POLST forms in the registry, compared with about 31% between 2010 and 2011.
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Chaplains Can Have ‘Huge Impact’ on Patient Care — If They Are Called
Critical care nurses need to incorporate board-certified chaplains’ contributions into the patient plan of care during bedside report, the authors of a recent paper argued.
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Dementia Program Linked to High Hospice Use, Low Acute Care Utilization
Patients participating in a comprehensive dementia care co-management program were highly involved in advance care planning, high rates of hospice use, and lower acute care visits near the end of life, according to a recent study.
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Assumptions on Correct Surrogate Are Legally, Ethically Problematic
Generally speaking, ethicists consider three things: Who has had regular contact? Who has shown care and concern? And who knows the patient’s wishes best?
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Social Media Research Presents Many Unresolved Ethical Issues
The authors of a recent paper propose steps the scientific community can take to ensure social media data are used ethically.
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New Efforts Help Emergency Medicine Residents Gain Hospice, Palliative Medicine Skills
Emergency medicine residents have very little time to learn hospice and palliative medicine skills. This includes symptom management and effective communication. There currently is no nationally defined hospice and palliative medicine curriculum for resident training.
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The Immediate and Downstream Benefits of Ethics Rounds
Regular rounding by ethicists builds trust with clinicians and gets issues resolved earlier with a preventive ethics approach.
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All Financial Conflicts of Interest Influence Findings: ‘There’s Always a Tradeoff Involved’
Given the potential for bias, it is important that all conflicts be disclosed so they can be evaluated — but this does not neutralize the risk.
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Mindfulness Intervention Well-Received by Palliative Care Providers
The intervention stemmed from strong interest in addressing providers’ well-being.