As a valued Relias Media subscriber, you can find the latest issue of your publication online. The articles below provide timely strategies and research for healthcare providers:
Despite inherent limitations when the ethicist’s input comes instead from a screen or phone, some hospitals are moving toward remote ethics consults. Lack of robust ethics expertise onsite and a surge in demand are contributing factors.
It is simply not possible for clinicians to do the right thing if ethical principles and legal requirements are in direct conflict, experts say. But it is important not to lose sight of what the right thing is.
Some people initially appear to be good candidates for transplant. But complications of treatment may develop — changing the risk-benefit analysis. A repeat consent conference is necessary before each sequential randomization.
Research suggests that when patients know that individual doctors receive industry payments, the patients trusted those specific doctors less. The researchers found that transparency negatively affected both patient trust in their own doctors and in the medical profession.
As healthcare organizations become more complex, there is a greater need for ethical discussion. Ethics champion programs are one way of encouraging discussions.
Ethical issues related to patient cellphone use center around the physician-patient relationship. At issue: How to balance the value of both physicians’ and patients’ time.
The proportion of recommendations supported by data from randomized controlled trials actually decreased from 2008. In looking at updated guidelines, the researchers found that fewer recommendations were supported by randomized controlled trials than in the prior versions.
Financial Disclosure: Consulting Editor Arthur R. Derse, MD, JD, Nurse Planner Susan Solverson, RN, BSN, CMSRN, Editor Jill Drachenberg, Editor Jonathan Springston, Editorial Group Manager Leslie Coplin, and Author Stacey Kusterbeck report no consultant, stockholder, speakers’ bureau, research, or other financial relationships with companies having ties to this field of study.
