Consortium Ethics Program |
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CEP Educational Model: Creating Self-Sufficiency The chart below describes educational opportunities available to members. There are three educational tracks: Basic, Advanced and Associate tracks. Each track is a three-year program that grows in educational intensity.
*Continuing education credits are offered for all programming.
Typically, an institution enrolls a minimum of two Basic representatives. After the 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. Institutions tend to thrive with two Basic and at least two Advanced representatives, ensuring a continuum of institution-wide ethics education. There also is an Associate track for those members wishing to continue their education after completing the Basic and Advanced tracks.
Membership Benefits A successful “three-year educational model” is the centerpiece of the CEP program. The following educational programs are available to members through this model: Ethics Retreat: Each year, representatives meet for an intensive, yet informal, conference in health care ethics. Faculty from the Center for Bioethics and Health Law other local universities, as well as national scholars, present state-of-the-art educational sessions—establishing the foundation for the upcoming year. A small registration fee is collected for this conference. Seminar Series: Each year, representatives attend at least four full-day seminar sessions that are comparable to training offered by graduate degree programs in health care ethics. In the three-year model, seminars in the first year address core topics in clinical ethics, such as end-of-life decision making, informed consent, health care reform, confidentiality and case-based reasoning. The second year explores the legal aspects of these issues as they relate to health care ethics, and the third year delves into the Humanities, focusing on religion, culture, communication and patient stories. On-site Programming: Each member institution is entitled to a maximum of six on-site programs per year to help expand ethics awareness throughout the institution. One representative from each institution fills out an on-line ethics survey, which provides a baseline to track the accomplishments and needs of the institution. A faculty member will then meet with the representatives to discuss and establish a plan for meeting those needs. Visits by CEP faculty continue throughout the program, upon request, as strategies are developed and implemented. Some components of an ethics strategy that an institution might seek to implement include: • Instituting ethics rounds • Revitalizing an existing group or committee • Continuing education programs within the institution for hospital staff members • Reviewing or drafting policies • Public education programs • Organizing a case review ethics consultation service Most requested on-site programming topics include: • End-of-Life Issues: Advance Directives/DNR, devising ethics policies, medical futility, withholding/withdrawing treatments, physician-assisted suicide and palliative care. • Basic Issues in Health Care: Informed consent, ethics in clinical practice, confidentiality, decision-making capacity and ethics theory. • Organizational Ethics: Bedside rationing, health care reform, staff and patient rights, pandemic ethics and policy development.
Targeted Programming Ethics Committee Education: CEP faculty will meet with an institution’s ethics committee to discuss a plan for ethics education. Aspects of this plan include on-going education for the ethics committee; skill building for an ethics consultation service; staffing ethics walk rounds in the ICU or oncology units and organizing an “ethics day” or “ethics week” to promote core issues.
Education for Ethics Consultants: This service is designed to provide the basic content areas and communication skills needed to be effective and competent ethics consultants. It is based on two ASBH (American Society of Bioethics) publications: Improving Competencies in Clinical Ethics Consultation: An Education Guide and its companion publication, Core Competencies for Health Care Ethics Consultation. This education includes four skill-building sessions based on these competencies, which are either full- or half-day sessions.
End-of-Life Nursing Education Curriculum (ELNEC): 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. The CEP has worked with Pennsylvania’s VA Hospital Administration to design an ELNEC program suited for VA hospital staff throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware. This program is available to any CEP member institution in a variety of formats: one-hour seminars, four half-day sessions or a two-day regional conference with neighboring institutions.
Long-term Care and Home Care Facilities: The CEP has developed a successful model for educating administrators, nursing staff and direct care workers in long-term care facilities and home health agencies. 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 long-term and home health care. As this educational model is implemented, representatives from individual institutions in the long-term care or home health networks form an ethics committee. After committee members undergo extensive ethics education, they go on to train direct care workers at their respective institutions. This “train-the-trainer” approach is not only time and cost-efficient, but also facilitates interaction among committee members and various units of the health care network.
Additional Benefits Participation in the Ethics Network: The on-going connections made among representatives, health care facilities and third-party insurers are a permanent asset to participating health care institutions. This ethics network facilitates the sharing of information to help individuals and institutions cope with perennial dilemmas in patient care, as well as legislation and developments in health care ethics. Year-End Accreditation Report: Each year, member institutions receive a year-end accreditation report that details how each institution has met relevant Joint Commission standards. If your institution does not use the Joint Commission, this report can easily be adapted to other federal and state accreditation requirements. Continuing Education Certification: All CEP educational seminars provide continuing education.
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 health care ethics a significant part of its mission.
In practical terms, this means an institution must:
• Appoint a minimum of two representatives whose institutional position and stature will make them effective ethics facilitators (Note: additional representatives may join for a nominal fee). • Provide administrative support by authorizing designated representatives the required time off to attend ethics retreats and seminar sessions. • Contribute an annual participation fee. • Commit time, effort and the financial resources necessary for successful educational programs in the institution and community.
*Long-Term Care/ Home Care: Stand Alone Membership does not include on-site programming. This fee only covers the cost for two individuals to attend the seminar series. On-site educational programming can be arranged on a fee-for-service basis.
**Individual Membership includes attendance at the annual ethics retreat and seminar sessions. Please note that on-site programming is not included in this membership but can be arranged on a fee-for-service basis.
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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© 2009 Consortium Ethics Program. No portion may be reproduced without permission. Last updated: October 26, 2009 |
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