Clinical Ethics Consultation Affairs Committee
View the Clinical Ethics Consultation Affairs Committee members' biographies and email addresses.
Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2010
January 7, 2010
October 18, 2009
September 29, 2009
Documents of Interest
Early Education Code Development
Kenneth Kipnis and Stephanie Feeney
Medical Ethics Education in a Problem-Based Learning Curriculum
Kenneth Kipnis and Anita Gerhard
Committee Charter
Approved via Board email vote on 2/16/09
Proposal: To form an ASBH Standing Committee on Clinical Ethics Consultation Standards and Certification.
Goal: To develop standards for ethics consultants working in clinical settings and to ensure clinical ethics consultants' competency and integrity.
Background
The case for identifying standards for clinical ethics consultants (CECs) is grounded on the premise that their salient responsibilities are too important to be assigned to individuals who lack the requisite knowledge and skills and whose work is not governed by authoritative practice standards. This proposal anticipates a future in which health care facilities can and should have access to qualified clinical ethics consultants who are adequately trained staff to provide ethics consultation services. This proposal advances the development of standards and mechanisms that will allow health care organizations to retain CECs who appreciate the norms governing their work and who demonstrate mastery of the requisite knowledge and skills.
The overall goal of this proposal is to meet the needs of hospitals, patients, staff, and clinical ethics consultants as much as possible within the current structure and scope of ASBH, with the side-benefit of opening the organization to the many CECs who are not currently ASBH members.
Terms
The Committee will be formed with open-ended membership terms of 18 months for each member. Initially, the Chair will be appointed by the Board and then will recommend individuals to the Board for appointment to the Committee. The Board may appoint a new chair or co-chair as needed.
The Committee's purpose is to review and promulgate practice standards for clinical ethics consultation. As such, the Committee should represent the full range of clinical ethics consultation practice that falls within established standards. The Committee will have the authority to review and promulgate practice standards for clinical ethics consultation with the Board approval. The Committee may also make other recommendations to the ASBH Board as regards to clinical ethics consultation.
Tasks
The full Committee will review the final revision of the Core Competencies Update by the Core Competencies Update Task Force, and determine when it is ready for publication. The Committee may consult with other ASBH members, including members of the Clinical Ethics Consultation Affinity Group in reviewing the Core Competencies document, and forwarding this document for Board endorsement as warranted. This sub-committee will eventually establish a mechanism by which to maintain feedback from CECs to inform further revisions to the Core Competencies and professional standards.
In addition, the full Committee will identify content, and work with the ASBH Program Committee and faculty for ASBH Annual Meeting Pre-conference workshops that directly relate to clinical ethics consultation. This will serve to ensure that what is presented at pre-conference workshops is consistent with emergent CEC standards. Committee members may or may not serve as workshop faculty. These pre-conference workshops are not intended as stand-alone training for clinical ethics consultants, but may serve to fill in gaps in CECs' backgrounds or update practitioners on new developments, including developing professional standards.
Sub-committees
The work of the Committee will be accomplished via two sub-committees, as follows.
Sub-committee on CEC Practice Standards
This sub-committee will consist of approximately 6 to 8 individuals who are members of the larger committee, a majority of whom are experienced clinical ethics consultants, experts on codes of ethics, or experts on organizational (i.e., "integrated") ethics. The Committee has the authority to designate non-members to take responsibility for the work of developing authoritative practice standards for clinical ethics consultants, with the expectation of developing a comprehensive code, together with an ongoing mechanism to update and interpret its provisions as needed.
The sub-committee will continue to work on defining evolving standards in clinical ethics consultation, such as procedural standards for ethics consultation.
Sub-committee on CEC Certification and Accreditation
This sub-committee will consist of approximately 6 to 8 individuals who are active clinical ethics consultants, experts in accreditation/certification and/or instrument development, and/or directors or senior faculty in graduate-level programs whose courses of study aim, at least in part, at preparing novices for careers as clinical ethics consultants. Non-members may be invited to take responsibility for the work of developing standards and procedures for certification/credentialing of clinical ethics consultants and/or for accreditation of programs that prepare novices for careers as clinical ethics consultants. The sub-committee will provide advice to the Board on suggested pathways to certify/credential individual clinical ethics consultants and/or accredit programs that prepare individuals for careers in CEC.
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