Innovative strategies to improve effectiveness in clinical ethics

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511545566.048

41 - Innovative strategies to improve effectiveness in clinical ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2009

Jennifer L. Gibson ,

M. Dianne Godkin ,

C. Shawn Tracy and

Susan K. MacRae

Edited by

Peter A. Singer and

A. M. Viens

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Jennifer L. Gibson: Affiliation:
Assistant Professor University of Toronto
M. Dianne Godkin: Affiliation:
Clinical Ethicist and Manager Center for Clinical Ethics Toronto, Canada
C. Shawn Tracy: Affiliation:
Research Associate, Primary Care Research Unit University of Toronto, Canada
Susan K. MacRae: Affiliation:
Deputy Director and the Director of the Clinical Ethics Fellowship University of Toronto, Canada
Peter A. Singer: Affiliation:
University of Toronto
A. M. Viens: Affiliation:
University of Oxford

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Summary

A large tertiary healthcare organization has a full-time clinical ethicist who is responsible for ethics consultation, education, policy development, and research. A recent accreditation survey identified a number of gaps in clinical ethics services across the organization. The clinical ethicist is already over-extended and is at risk of burning out. The Vice-President responsible for overseeing the ethics portfolio wonders what can be done to enhance support for the clinical ethicist, strengthen ethics capacity across the organization, and improve the overall effectiveness of clinical ethics services.

What is clinical ethics effectiveness?

The ultimate goal of any clinical ethics delivery model is improved patient care. As more healthcare resources are invested in clinical ethics services, questions are increasingly raised about whether these services are effective in improving the quality of patient care and whether they justify investments of limited healthcare resources. In this chapter, we identify some key challenges to existing clinical ethics delivery models and suggest four innovative strategies to improve effectiveness in clinical ethics services in healthcare organizations.

Since 1995, when James Tulsky and Ellen Fox convened the Conference on Evaluation of Case Consultation in Clinical Ethics (AHCPR, 1995), there has been a marked increase in scholarly attention to the study and evaluation of clinical ethics, particularly related to the ethics consultation component of clinical ethics (e.g., McClung et al., 1996; Orr et al., 1996; Schneiderman et al., 2000). This has been described as a new phase in the clinical ethics movement (Aulisio, 1999).

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics , pp. 322 - 328

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545566.048 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2008

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