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CEP Membership
Benefits
How Does Membership Work?
Ancillary Education Services: Target Programming
Membership Criteria
How to Join the CEP
Benefits
A successful "three-year education model" for educating administrators, healthcare professionals, and direct care workers in healthcare ethics is the centerpiece of the CEP program. The following education programs are available to our members through this model:
- Ethics Retreat: In the fall of each year, CEP representatives join those of the other member institutions for an intensive, yet informal, weekend conference in health care ethics. Faculty from the Center for Bioethics and Health Law, as well as national ethics scholars, present state-of-the-art education sessions to lay the foundation for upcoming sessions. Continuing education credits are awarded for the weekend.
- Seminar Series: Each year, representatives will attend at least four full-day seminar sessions, comparable to the training available in graduate degree programs in healthcare ethics. Continuing education credits are also awarded for each seminar.
- On-site Education/Programming: The CEP faculty provides educational programming at individual member institutions. This assists the ethics resource persons in expanding ethics awareness throughout the institution. Each institution is visited by a faculty member who will meet the hospital representatives to discuss and establish the ethics needs of the institution. Visits by CEP faculty continue throughout the program, upon request, as strategies for meeting the institution’s ethics needs are developed and implemented. Educational programming presented at each institution has proven invaluable in meeting The Joint Commission requirements. Almost 40% of the educational programming requested by members has focused specifically on end-of-life issues; the other 60% of the requests span cultural/religious issues, ethics & law, in addition to other critical topics.
- Some of the components of an ethics strategy that an institution might seek to implement include:
- Continuing education programming within the institutions
- Instituting ethics rounds
- Revitalizing an existing group or committee
- Reviewing or drafting policies
- Organizing a case review ethics consultation service
- Public education programs
- Participation in the evolving Ethics Network: The ongoing connections among the representatives, health care facilities, and third-party insurers that have taken part in the CEP are a permanent asset to a participating healthcare institution. This ethics network facilitates the sharing of information to cope with perennial dilemmas in patient care as well as new legislation and developments in medical ethics.
- On-line Discussion Board: Members will have access to the CEP’s on-line discussion board. This structured discussion, moderated by CEP Interim Associate Director Andrew Thurman, JD, MPH, will provide a forum in which participants can address ethical issues and learn from the experience of other members.
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How Does Membership Work?
The chart below describes educational opportunities available to members. There are three educational tracks: Basic, Advanced, and Associate. Each one is a three-year program that builds in educational intensity.
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Advanced Track
Years 4-6 |
Associate Track
Years 7+ |
Year 1 focuses on the theoretical foundations of health care ethics as well as core topics in clinical ethics, such as end-of-life decision making, informed consent, managed care, confidentiality, and case-based reasoning.
Year 2 examines healthcare law as it relates to clinical ethics.
Year 3 explores the relationship between healthcare ethics and the humanities.
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Follows the same educational focus as the Basic track, but provides more in-depth clinical applications.
Allows representatives to bring more of their own experiences to the discussion.
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Representatives may attend Advanced seminars; topics are chosen new each year to eliminate repetition. There will also be opportunities to attend special ethics seminars. Individual mentoring in ethics education is available with CEP faculty.
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Typically, an institution enrolls a minimum of two Basic representatives. After completion of the three year Basic track, the option of enrolling for another three years into the Advanced track is available. Two new members can then enroll in the Basic track again. Institutions tend to thrive with two basic and at least two advanced and/or associate representatives, ensuring a continuum of institution-wide ethics education.
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Ancillary Education Services: Target Programming
End-of-Life Nursing Education Curriculum (ELNEC)
Nurses spend more time with dying patients and their families than any other healthcare professional. They are deeply involved with all aspects of end-of-life care; yet national research studies show that many nurses have been inadequately educated to properly handle the burdens of end-of-life care.
ELNEC is an educational program designed to teach nurses the skills and knowledge necessary to provide quality end-of-life care. The program, created in 1999 by the American Association of Colleges of Nurses and the City of Hope National Medical Center, with funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, specifically instructs nurses on communicating bad news, addressing ethical dilemmas in end-of-life care, managing symptoms, recognizing cultural considerations, and providing quality care.
Some ways of utilizing this resource include:
- Specific components for one-hour seminars;
- The entire curriculum in four half-day sessions;
- A two-day regional conference with neighboring organizations can be arranged.
Long-Term Care Ethics Network
The CEP began incorporating both concepts into its ethics program shortly after its inception and a successful model for educating administrators, nursing staff, and direct care workers in such facilities has been developed. This model takes into account cost constraints, the need for staff to remain on site for education, and the unique issues that arise in the delivery of non-acute care. It centers on an Ethics Committee, comprised of representatives from individual long-term care, home health, or senior living facilities. The program provides education to administrators, staff, and direct care workers to address ethical issues related to their particular needs.
Some of the issues explored include:
- Autonomy for Older Adults. What rights do older adults have? What should staff do to insure that adults with decisional capacity are allowed to make decisions and exercise control over their lives?
- Competence and Decisional Capacity. What is legal competence? What is decisional capacity? Do some older people have the capacity and the right to make some decisions but not others?
- Family Conflicts. When family members disagree about the care of an older adult, what should that adult do? How should staff handle disputes among family members?
- Privacy and Confidentiality. What does the HIPPA Privacy Rule require of long-term care facilities? How can the staff respect confidentiality and keep family members informed? When one resident is hospitalized, what should the staff tell the other residents?
- Consultation Services. The home health consultation model takes into account the decentralized aspects of home health workers.
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Membership Criteria
Any acute-care hospital, rehabilitation facility, long-term care facility, or other health care institution may apply for membership in the CEP. The most important qualification for an institution is a willingness to make healthcare ethics a significant part of its mission.
In practical terms, this means an institution must:
- Appoint two representatives whose institutional position and stature will make them effective facilitators;
- Provide a collaborative working environment for these representatives;
- Contribute an annual participation fee; and
- Commit time, effort, and financial resources necessary for successful educational programs in the institution and the community.
Annual Participation Fees Scale
Effective July 1, 2008
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Membership Type |
Fee Category |
Contribution |
Additional Representatives |
| Acute-Care |
0-99 Beds
100-199 Beds
200-399 Beds
400+ Beds |
$3,800.00
$6,000.00
$8,500.00
$13,000.00 |
$500.00 per person |
| Long-term Care/ Home Care |
System-wide
Stand Alone* |
$3,800.00
$1,500.00 |
$350.00 per person |
| Third-Party Payor |
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$13,000.00 |
$500.00 per person |
| Individual** |
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$1,500.00 |
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*Long-term Care / Home Care Stand Alone membership does not include any on-site programming. This fee only covers the cost for two individuals to attend the formal seminar series offered by the CEP. On-site educational programming can be arranged for a fee-for-service basis.
**Individual Membership: The membership fee for this option includes attendance at the annual ethics retreat, seminar classes, and participation in the on-line discussion board. Please note that on-site programming or consultation at the individual’s institution will not be provided.
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How to Join the CEP
Institutions:
The first step needed to join is to complete the Institutional Intent to Participate form. After the institution completes the intent form and it is received by the CEP, the CEP will contact the institution to arrange the details of membership.
Click here to download the Intent to Participate-Acute Care Institutions Form
Individuals:
An individual healthcare provider or administrator may join the CEP. It is preferable that anyone considering this option should first determine whether his or her institution is interested in membership. Obviously it is to the individual’s advantage if the institution joins the CEP. The support of a colleague who also attends the retreats and seminars, plus the on-location support that the CEP provides institutional members, usually makes an individual a more effective educator and resource person within his or her home institution. However, we recognize that for some individuals such institutional support is not possible. Therefore, we offer the option of joining at a participation fee of $1,500.00 per year.
The first step needed to join is to complete the Individual Intent to Participate form. After the individual completes the intent form and it is received by the CEP, the CEP will contact the institution to arrange the details of membership.
Click here to download the Intent to Participate-Individuals Form
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