Document Detail


Characterisation of organisational issues in paediatric clinical ethics consultation: a qualitative study.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19644005     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: The traditional approach to resolving ethics concerns may not address underlying organisational issues involved in the evolution of these concerns. This represents a missed opportunity to improve quality of care "upstream". The purpose of this study was to understand better which organisational issues may contribute to ethics concerns. METHODS: Directed content analysis was used to review ethics consultation notes from an academic children's hospital from 1996 to 2006 (N = 71). The analysis utilised 18 categories of organisational issues derived and modified from published quality improvement protocols. RESULTS: Organisational issues were identified in 68 of the 71 (96%) ethics consult notes across a range of patient settings and reasons for consultation. Thirteen of the 18 categories of organisational issues were identified and there was a median of two organisational issues per consult note. The most frequently identified organisational issues were informal organisational culture (eg, collective practices and approaches to situations with ethical dimensions that are not guided by policy), policies and procedures (eg, staff knows policy and/or procedural guidelines for an ethical concern but do not follow it) and communication (eg, communication about critical information, orders, or hand-offs repeatedly does not occur among services). CONCLUSIONS: Organisational issues contribute to ethical concerns that result in clinical ethics consults. Identifying and addressing organisational issues such as informal culture and communication may help decrease the recurrence of future similar ethics concerns.
Authors:
D J Opel; B S Wilfond; D Brownstein; D S Diekema; R A Pearlman
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of medical ethics     Volume:  35     ISSN:  1473-4257     ISO Abbreviation:  J Med Ethics     Publication Date:  2009 Aug 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-07-31     Completed Date:  2009-12-16     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7513619     Medline TA:  J Med Ethics     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  477-82     Citation Subset:  E; IM    
Affiliation:
Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, Washington, USA. djopel@u.washington.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Child
Child, Preschool
Ethics Consultation / ethics*,  organization & administration,  standards
Ethics, Clinical*
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Organizational Culture
Organizational Objectives
Organizational Policy*
Pediatrics / ethics*,  organization & administration,  standards
Qualitative Research
Washington

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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