Ethics Consultation

Ethics Consultation

The National Rural Bioethics Project provides a variety of consulting services to rural healthcare professionals and organizations. Drs. Cook and Hoas offer workshops and trainings in areas of ethics, patient safety, quality control, community education, research, and evaluation. They use active learning modes that encourage professional and organizational growth. Opportunities for training and continuing education are often scarce for those who practice in rural communities and our services are designed to make it easier for rural healthcare providers to attend stimulating sessions either on-site or on-line.

Workshops

The format of these workshops incorporates activities that use a number of different modalities to stimulate interdisciplinary discussions and increase participation. These include, but are not limited to:

Readers Theater. 7-8 members of the audience are asked to read a script that showcases common issues that compromise the safe and ethical delivery of healthcare. The texts are based on actual comments and situations reported by healthcare providers participating in our research. The dialogue is structured to show the varying perceptions among staff members and professions. After the reading the readers share their experiences of reading somebody else’s lines; the audience engages in discussion of key issues. The Readers Theater raises awareness of differences in perspectives and encourages successful dialogue among colleagues and coworkers.
Case Studies and Analysis. In this activity participants engage in analysis of different case studies depicting common, everyday, ethical dilemmas or patient safety issues that emerge in health care settings. The cases are all from “real life” situations that happen in the delivery of healthcare. A Case Analysis Model, developed through our research studies, is used to frame practical solutions.

Training

Case Based Email Intervention. We have developed an interdisciplinary curriculum rooted in change theory. The curriculum employs weekly cases that depict unsafe, questionable, situations that actually occur in rural hospitals. On a weekly or bi-weekly basis the cases can be delivered via e-mail to interdisciplinary teams in participating hospitals. Each case is accompanied by a standard set of questions structured to reinforce recognition of ethically challenging or unsafe situations, foster the use of a common language and provide shared experiences when trying to resolve problems. This intervention can be done over a 8-16 week time span and is a cost and time-effective way to disseminate information throughout the hospital system.
Specialized Workshops These offer practical ways to explore evolving and challenging issues, like handling disclosure of errors. Field-tested tools and aids are used to enhance the decision-making process in healthcare settings

Consultation

Healthcare organizations and providers: We offer assistance when solving the ethical dilemmas that modern medicine can present. Consultations can be arranged on an ad-hoc basis.
Communities: We offer resources and approaches that assist communities faced with environmental contamination.