TY - JOUR
T1 - Residents' access to ethics consultations
T2 - Knowledge, use, and perceptions
AU - Gacki-Smith, Jessica
AU - Gordon, Elisa J.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2005/2
Y1 - 2005/2
N2 - Purpose: To examine residents' levels of awareness, use, and perceptions of the ethics consultation service at Loyola University Medical Center, a large Midwestern academic teaching hospital. Method: In 2001-2002, the authors conducted a cross-sectional survey and semistructured interviews about knowledge and use of the ethics consultation service among all 229 internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, pediatrics, and medicine-pediatrics residents. Chi-square and t tests were used to compare categorical and continuous variables. Results: In all, 135 (59%) of the residents responded, and of these 22 (16%) completed an interview. Most survey respondents (76%) reported awareness of the ethics consultation service, although only 28 (21%) indicated they knew how to request one. Most respondents (89%) had never personally requested an ethics consultation. Thirteen residents (10%) had wanted to call an ethics consultation, but decided not to request one. Residents reported barriers to requesting an ethics consultation were the attending physician's opposition (46%), lack of awareness of the ethics consultation service (15%), and negative perceptions of ethics consultations (15%). Conclusion: Several barriers hindered residents' use of ethics consultation services. Health care institutions should systematically educate employees about the availability and use of ethics consultation services. Institutions should establish mechanisms to give health care professionals in subordinate roles within the medical hierarchy a safe way to access and use the service.
AB - Purpose: To examine residents' levels of awareness, use, and perceptions of the ethics consultation service at Loyola University Medical Center, a large Midwestern academic teaching hospital. Method: In 2001-2002, the authors conducted a cross-sectional survey and semistructured interviews about knowledge and use of the ethics consultation service among all 229 internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, pediatrics, and medicine-pediatrics residents. Chi-square and t tests were used to compare categorical and continuous variables. Results: In all, 135 (59%) of the residents responded, and of these 22 (16%) completed an interview. Most survey respondents (76%) reported awareness of the ethics consultation service, although only 28 (21%) indicated they knew how to request one. Most respondents (89%) had never personally requested an ethics consultation. Thirteen residents (10%) had wanted to call an ethics consultation, but decided not to request one. Residents reported barriers to requesting an ethics consultation were the attending physician's opposition (46%), lack of awareness of the ethics consultation service (15%), and negative perceptions of ethics consultations (15%). Conclusion: Several barriers hindered residents' use of ethics consultation services. Health care institutions should systematically educate employees about the availability and use of ethics consultation services. Institutions should establish mechanisms to give health care professionals in subordinate roles within the medical hierarchy a safe way to access and use the service.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=12844280596&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=12844280596&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/00001888-200502000-00014
DO - 10.1097/00001888-200502000-00014
M3 - Review article
C2 - 15671324
AN - SCOPUS:12844280596
SN - 1040-2446
VL - 80
SP - 168
EP - 175
JO - Academic Medicine
JF - Academic Medicine
IS - 2
ER -