title: The Role of Communication and Interpersonal Skills in Clinical Ethics Consultation: The Need for a Competency in Advanced Ethics Facilitation.
abstract: Clinical ethics consultants (CECs) often face some of the most difficult communication and interpersonal challenges that occur in hospitals, involving stressed stakeholders who express, with strong emotions, their preferences and concerns in situations of personal crisis and loss. In this article we will give examples of how much of the important work that ethics consultants perform in addressing clinical ethics conflicts is incompletely conceived and explained in the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities Core Competencies for Healthcare Ethics Consultation and the clinical ethics literature. The work to which we refer is best conceptualized as a specialized type of interviewing, in which the emotional barriers of patients and their families or surrogates can be identified and addressed in light of relevant ethical obligations and values within the context of ethics facilitation.
authors.affiliation: Alden March Bioethics Institute-Albany Medical College, 47 New Scotland Ave.-MC153, Albany, New York 12208 USA. SheltoW@mail.amc.edu.
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.affiliation: 15510 Caballo Canyon Dr., NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87112 USA. ethicdoc@comcast.net.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Geppert
authors.affiliation: Alden March Bioethics Institute-Albany Medical College, 47 New Scotland Ave.-MC153, Albany, New York 12208 USA. jankowj@mail.amc.edu.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jankowski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries; D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D004644:Emotions; D026822:Ethicists / Q000592:standards*; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating; D011361:Professional Competence; D024382:Professional Role; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards*; D012932:Social Facilitation; D066107:Social Skills; D012945:Social Values