title: Measuring Quality in Ethics Consultation.
abstract: For all of the emphasis on quality improvement-as well as the acknowledged overlap between assessment of the quality of healthcare services and clinical ethics-the quality of clinical ethics consultation has received scant attention, especially in terms of empirical measurement. Recognizing this need, the second edition of Core Competencies for Health Care Ethics Consultation1 identified four domains of ethics quality: (1) ethicality, (2) stakeholders' satisfaction, (3) resolution of the presenting conflict/dilemma, and (4) education that translates into knowledge. This study is the first, to our knowledge, to directly measure all of these domains. Here we describe the quality improvement process undertaken at a tertiary care academic medical center, as well as the tools developed to measure the quality of ethics consultation, which include post-consultation satisfaction surveys and weekly case conferences. The information gained through these tools helps to improve not only the process of ethics consultation, but also the measurement and assurance of quality.
authors.affiliation: University of Vermont College of Medicine, 111 Colchester Avenue, Smith 266, Burlington, Vermont 05401 USA. Sally.Bliss@uvmhealth.org.
authors.forename: Sally E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Bliss
authors.affiliation: Clarkson University Bioethics Program and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Shenectady, New York USA. joppenla@clarkson.edu.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oppenlander
authors.affiliation: Nebraska Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska USA. jadahlke@nebraskamed.com.
authors.forename: Jacob M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dahlke
authors.affiliation: University of Vermont College of Medicine, 111 Colchester Avenue, Smith 266, Burlington, Vermont 05401 USA. elmersbuddy@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gordon J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: State University of New York, School of Public Health, University at Albany, Rensselaer, New York USA. ewilliford@albany.edu.
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Williford
authors.affiliation: University of Vermont College of Medicine, 111 Colchester Avenue, Smith 266, Burlington, Vermont 05401 USA. robert.macauley@uvmhealth.org.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Macauley
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics; D026822:Ethicists / Q000592:standards; D033061:Ethics Consultation / Q000592:standards*; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013997:Time Factors