Medical Ethics Advisor – November 1, 2018
November 1, 2018
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Advance Care Planning Discussions ‘Buried’ in EHRs: Problem Is Pervasive
Half of patients with a completed advance care planning legal form had no explanatory discussion documented, found a recent study.
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‘Tremendous Interest’ in Dementia-specific Advance Directives
Court challenges and resistance are expected for recently developed dementia-specific advance directives despite strong demand voiced by patients, family, and providers.
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Ethics-Administrator Relations Go From Adversarial to Collegial
Good relations between ethics and hospital administration require a solid understanding of their distinct roles.
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Nurse-facilitated Discussion Decreases Surrogate Stress
Surrogates reported less stress and greater satisfaction after a nurse-directed discussion on end-of-life preferences, a recent study found.
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Spiritual Self-care Linked to Higher Surrogate Confidence
There is increasing focus on finding ways to help patients and their families prepare for the surrogate role much earlier so that the end of life is not as traumatic for all concerned.
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Family Important Influencer on Care Preferences
An analysis of 57 articles indicates that care preferences are influenced by a complex interaction of family, individual, and illness factors.
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Study Sheds Light on Why Nurses Want Ethics Consults
A recent analysis of nursing requests for clinical ethics consultations revealed key concerns prompting the requests — and also what nurses felt was most important about the consults.
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Mobile Devices Used by Unregulated Researchers
A new National Institutes of Health-funded project, Mobile ELSI, is developing recommendations for the ethical conduct of this emerging research.
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Ethics of Patient Access to Experimental Treatments
Partner universities will build a national framework for more efficient, consistent, and widespread use of the program and help more hospitals offer experimental options to their patients.