title: Ethical issues faced by a department chairperson.
abstract: There are numerous ethical dilemmas faced routinely by department chairmen. Herein, we attempt to describe the responsibilities of a chairperson and then discuss some exemplary ethical issues that they are often required to handle, including. (1) How should a chair deal with the potential undermining of established doctor-patient relationships when a patient comes to the tertiary medical center? (2) What demands can a chair require of volunteer faculty to ensure the success of the department? (3) How should a chair deal with promotion issues and mentorship? (4) How should a chair deal with performance issues? We offer opinions and cite existing data, but we ask the reader to recognize that very few peer-reviewed publications are available on these topics. We hope that in the future these ethical conundrums will be addressed more frequently in medical journals.
authors.affiliation: Ackerman Academy of Dermatopathology, 145 East 32nd Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10016, USA. delston@ameripath.com
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elston
authors.forename: Jane M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Grant-Kels
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000941:ethics*; D026688:Bioethical Issues; D002322:Career Mobility; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000941:ethics