Collaborative Governance: Ethics Committee

"promoting excellence every day"

ETHICS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE COMMITTEE

2011 Goals | Overview | Responsibilities | CG Ethics Champions | 2010 Accomplishments

Collaborative Governance
Committees

Diversity

Patient Education

Ethics in Clinical Practice

Informatics

Policy, Procedure & Products

Practice & Quality Oversight Subcommittees

Research & Evidence-based

Staff Nurse Advisory

Current work:

Task Force Committees continue to excite and energize members as we design a Resource Manual, develop a Portal Page on Ethics, develop a hospital wide survey about ethical concerns and dilemmas and make ready for Health Care Decisions Day on April 16th. So much accomplished with so many fine clinicians in one short hour is breathtaking.
Surveys can feel like a burden to us as we are faced with so much to do in so little time. However, surveys are like our compass readings that guide us in our sea of endeavor in providing the best care possible to patients and families, or Excellence Every Day! It is an act of altruism but also a duty to each other to offer our perspective; are we on course or do we need to adjust our settings?
More and more, Advanced Care Planning and Health Care Proxies are becoming the keystones in building the correct treatment plan in Health Care for each individual. The initiatives of Health Care Decisions Day and working with Primary Care to be sure everyone has the opportunity to speak about and document their wishes is providing the Best Health Care to All, which is at the heart of the principle of autonomy.

2012 Goals:

Continue to educate the MGH community about the process of Advance Care Planning (ACP) and coordinate/advise on ACP related activities across the MGH care continuum.
Develop and maintain an ethics resource manual for new EICP champions, and evaluate whether this resource may be helpful as a resource for all clinicians in the future.
Review empirical literature and website designs and consider which articles, codes of ethics, position statements, or ethics resources would be clinically relevant for inclusion on the committee’s website and Share Point site.
Design a survey to gain understanding of the ethical dilemmas/ challenges that interdisciplinary clinicians are confronting at MGH in their practice to better inform the work of the committee going forward.

Meets:
1st Wednesday monthly
1pm - 3pm
Trustees
Conference Room

Committee Contacts:

Co-Chairs
Berney Graham, LICSW - Social Services - Founders 6

M. Connie Wilson, RN - Staff Nurse - Blake 14 - Labor & Delivery

Coach
Sharon Brackett, RN - Ellison 4 - SICU

Advisor
Cynthia LaSala, RN, CNS- Phillips 20

CG Ethics Champions

ETHICS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE COMMITTEE OVERVIEW

The Patient Care Services Ethics in Clinical Practice (EICP) Committee is a multidisciplinary committee, which was formed to develop and implement activities and programs to further clinicians’ understanding of ethical aspects of patient care. The work of this committee involves identifying strategies to integrate ethical judgment into professional practice and consultation at unit and organizational levels related to ethical issues in patient care. return to top

Responsibilities:

Design and implement activities and programs to support the development of staff in Patient Care Services in the area of health care ethics.
Promote culturally competent care and staff education.
Employ strategies to educate EICP champions the area of health care ethics.
Student outreach.
Identify and address ethical issues and conflicts faced by clinicians in Patient Care Services.
Provide consultation to the organization regarding policies, procedures and programs with ethical implications.
Expand the impact of EICP through collaboration with other Collaborative Governance Committees, links with the organizational initiatives, and professional conference participation.
Engage in joint projects with other Collaborative Governance committees.
Align the work of the committee with PCS strategic goals. return to top

Membership:

All Patient Care Services professional staff are eligible to apply during the annual application process.
Annually, committee leaders recommend applicants to the Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse based upon the committee’s needs.
Applications are occasionally accepted from professional staff outside of PCS and will be recommended based upon the needs of the committee.
Committee meetings and events are open to the PCS community. return to top

2010 Accomplishments

Continued their work on developing an Ethics resource manual for committee members.
Participated in annual Advanced Care Planning educational initiative.
Held several well attended case presentations.
Members continue to support unit based ethics rounds. return to top