Goals of clinical ethics support: perceptions of Dutch healthcare institutions

Health Care Anal. 2013 Dec;21(4):323-37. doi: 10.1007/s10728-011-0189-5.

Abstract

In previous literature, ethicists mention several goals of Clinical Ethics Support (CES). It is unknown what key persons in healthcare institutions see as main--and sub-goals of CES. This article presents the goals of CES as perceived by board members and members of ethics support staff. This is part of a Dutch national research using a mixed methods design with questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed and combined in an iterative process. Four main clusters of goals were found: 1) encouraging an ethical climate, 2) fostering an accountable and transparent organization, 3) developing professionalism and a final goal, overarching the previous three, 4) good care. Most important sub-goals of CES were: attention for ethical issues, raising awareness of ethical issues, fostering ethical reflection and supporting employees. The article ends with a discussion on the desirability to further operationalize the general goal of good care, the context-boundedness of our findings and the need to relate goals of CES to the features of organizational cultures to further improve the integration of CES in healthcare institutions.

MeSH terms

  • Attitude of Health Personnel*
  • Delivery of Health Care / ethics*
  • Ethics, Clinical*
  • Ethics, Institutional*
  • Goals
  • Health Services / ethics*
  • Humans
  • Netherlands
  • Qualitative Research