30 min

Ethics Committees: Assessing Impact EthicsLab

    • Medicine

It is not unusual for tough choice decisions to be made in health care. In those situations, what help can patients, their families or the clinical team receive? Health care ethics committees and health care ethics consultants provide guidance to patients, their families and clinicians in hospitals and health care delivery sites across the United States and throughout the world. According to the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, “The goal of ethics consultation is to “improve health care outcomes through the identification, analysis and resolution of ethical issues in health care institutions,” How might better access to these resources be made more available. How might their impact be assessed?

In this first episode, of a two part series, our guests explore the impact that ethics consultation has in the continuum of care, and dive deeper into just how big of an impact this service can have in clinical care.

Our guests in this episode include:

Dr. Ellen Fox Ellen Fox, President of Fox Ethics Consulting and a bioethics consultant, educator, researcher, and policymaker
Mary Homan, Southwest Division Vice President of Theology and Ethics for CommonSpirit Health
Mark Repenshek, Vice President of Ethics and Church Relations for Ascension

This episode was recorded on multiple dates in mid 2021.

Additional resources relating to or referenced in this episode:

Ethics consultation in U.S. hospitals: A national follow-up study
Ethics consultation in U.S. hospitals: New findings about consultation practices 
Examining Quality and Value in Ethics Consultation Services (subscription required)
Health care ethics programs in U.S. hospitals: Results from a national survey 
Hiring Clinical Ethicists: Building on Gremmels' Staffing Model Approach

It is not unusual for tough choice decisions to be made in health care. In those situations, what help can patients, their families or the clinical team receive? Health care ethics committees and health care ethics consultants provide guidance to patients, their families and clinicians in hospitals and health care delivery sites across the United States and throughout the world. According to the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, “The goal of ethics consultation is to “improve health care outcomes through the identification, analysis and resolution of ethical issues in health care institutions,” How might better access to these resources be made more available. How might their impact be assessed?

In this first episode, of a two part series, our guests explore the impact that ethics consultation has in the continuum of care, and dive deeper into just how big of an impact this service can have in clinical care.

Our guests in this episode include:

Dr. Ellen Fox Ellen Fox, President of Fox Ethics Consulting and a bioethics consultant, educator, researcher, and policymaker
Mary Homan, Southwest Division Vice President of Theology and Ethics for CommonSpirit Health
Mark Repenshek, Vice President of Ethics and Church Relations for Ascension

This episode was recorded on multiple dates in mid 2021.

Additional resources relating to or referenced in this episode:

Ethics consultation in U.S. hospitals: A national follow-up study
Ethics consultation in U.S. hospitals: New findings about consultation practices 
Examining Quality and Value in Ethics Consultation Services (subscription required)
Health care ethics programs in U.S. hospitals: Results from a national survey 
Hiring Clinical Ethicists: Building on Gremmels' Staffing Model Approach

30 min