Objectives

1. Describe topics in ethics that can be assessed to determine the ethics knowledgelevel of HEC members and the organization at large.

2. Identify at least ive strategies for educating physicians and organizational stafabout ethics.

3. Describe mechanisms for tracking and evaluating the HEC’s educationaleforts.

Case

The Metropolitan Care Hospital Ethics Committee received a request for consultation fromthe ICU regarding whether life-sustaining treatment should be continued for a patient withmultiple organ system failure. The patient, Mr. Jansen, had recently been admitted froman area nursing home and had no family or guardian to assist with making healthcaredecisions. The ICU physician, who did not believe that continuing treatment would reverseMr. Jansen’s decline, and that the treatment might actually be causing Mr. Jansen painand discomfort, was unsure what decision should be made. The Ethics Committee trackingsystem indicated that this was the third case involving medical decision-making for patientswithout a surrogate decision-maker that had been referred to the committee in the last2 months.

Introduction

Of all of the potential roles of healthcare ethics committees (HECs), the role of “educator”is arguably the most fundamental and enduring role of the committee. In addition totraditional training opportunities, every policy examined, every retrospective review of arecurring issue at the institution, every organizational and managed care issue studied, andevery concurrent consultation becomes an opportunity for education – not only for committeemembers, but also for patients, families, and the healthcare staf at large. An efectiveHEC will consider carefully and intentionally how its role as educator will be articulatedand implemented and how the institution will evaluate the committee’s efectiveness inthis role.