Medical Ethics Advisor
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Ethical Guidance Needed if Someone Wants to Override Patient’s Wishes
Hospitals could put a policy in writing to make clear the obligation of staff to follow a patient’s previously expressed decisions and the obligation of the surrogate to make the decision the patient would want, not the decision the surrogate would want.
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ICU Length of Stay Linked to Burnout in Critical Care Nurses
Considering longer length of stay is a possible consequence of burnout, there is an ethical concern that patients are harmed when exposed to healthcare systems with high rates of clinical staff burnout.
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When Clinicians Ask Urgent Ethical Questions, Time Is of the Essence
When busy clinicians ask for ethics help, they need assistance now, not weeks later. Ethics’ response should be just as timely as any medical or surgical subspecialty service. When clinicians receive a quick, helpful response from ethics, word spreads quickly in healthcare organizations.
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PEACE Rounds Promote Better Communication in Neonatal ICU
Conflicts can happen between nurses and physicians, families and physicians, and social workers and families. Weekly Patient Experience and Communication Excellence (PEACE) rounds, implemented in 2016 in the pediatric intensive care unit at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, has ameliorated healthcare providers’ moral distress and shortened length of stay for some patients.
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Students Shadow Chaplains, Connect with Patients
Medical students led the creation of a grassroots ethics program that includes lunch-and-learn sessions, ethics presentations, faculty-student mentorship sessions, student ethics committee discussions, and an ethics capstone scholarly project. Students learn to recognize ethical issues in everyday medical decisions as they transition to providing direct patient care on clinical wards.
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Demand for Ethics Education Surges at Medical Schools
Experts argue ethics education should be a lifelong process, not a one-time course in medical school.
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Advance Care Planning Does Not Decrease Hope, Contrary to Common Belief
Many oncologists may cite fear of giving up hope as a primary reason they defer conversations about end-of-life or advance care planning until late in the course of a patient’s disease.
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Ethics of Default Options for Advance Directives
Default options in advance directives strongly influenced patients’ end-of-life care choices, according to the authors of a recent study.
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Data Reveal More About Patients Who Request Medical Assistance in Dying
More people are asking for medical assistance in dying, but surprisingly little is known about this population.
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More Than 300 Clinical Ethicists Have Earned HEC-C Credential
One year in, the program is popular, but questions remain regarding the certification's importance to administrators when they are evaluating skills and making hiring decisions.