Conferences & Symposia

Fine Tuning Clinical Ethics Consultation

Monday, June 8, 2009

This one-day workshop focuses on select aspects of clinical ethics consultation (CEC) that influence the quality of CEC in health care facilities. MHECN is collaborating with the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA’s) National Center for Ethics in Health Care for this workshop to present state-of-the-art materials to hone clinical ethics consultation skills. Attendees will review the following CEC skills, and will apply concepts learned through simulated activities performed during the workshop sessions: preempting misconceptions about the role of a clinical ethics consultant, clarifying the values uncertainties or conflicts giving rise to an ethics consultation request, defusing conflict in a formal CEC meeting, and avoiding group think. The intended audience for this workshop is health care ethics committee members who are involved in ethics consultation. Skills learned in this workshop can also be shared with individuals at attendees’ home institutions to enhance ethics consult skills among others in the ethics consultation service.

This one-day workshop focuses on select aspects of clinical ethics consultation (CEC) that influence the quality of CEC in health care facilities. MHECN is collaborating with the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA’s) National Center for Ethics in Health Care for this workshop to present state-of-the-art materials to hone clinical ethics consultation skills. Attendees will review the following CEC skills, and will apply concepts learned through simulated activities performed during the workshop sessions: preempting misconceptions about the role of a clinical ethics consultant, clarifying the values uncertainties or conflicts giving rise to an ethics consultation request, defusing conflict in a formal CEC meeting, and avoiding group think. The intended audience for this workshop is health care ethics committee members who are involved in ethics consultation. Skills learned in this workshop can also be shared with individuals at attendees’ home institutions to enhance ethics consult skills among others in the ethics consultation service.

Agenda

8:15 – 8:45 am - Continental breakfast, registration

8:45 – 9:00 am - Introductory remarks
Diane E. Hoffmann, J.D., M.S.

9:00 – 10:30 am - Preempting common misconceptions about the role of an ethics consultant (a VHA "Beyond the Basics" Module)
Anita J. Tarzian, Ph.D., R.N.

10:30 – 10:45 am - Break

10:45 am – 12:15 pm - Clarifying the values uncertainties or conflicts giving rise to the ethics consultation request (a VHA "Beyond the Basics" Module)
Ellen E. Fox, M.D.

12:15 – 1:15 pm - Lunch

1:15 – 2:45 pm - Using the beginning of a formal meeting to defuse conflict (a VHA "Beyond the Basics" Module)
Diane E. Hoffmann, J.D., M.S.

2:45 – 3:00 pm - Break

3:00 – 4:00 pm - Avoiding "group think"
Edmund G. Howe, M.D., J.D.

4:00 pm - Adjournment

Jointly sponsored by Maryland Health Care Ethics Committee Network and Franklin Square Hospital Center