Medical staff privileges for ethics consultants: an institutional model

On January 1, 1991, the Joint Commission required hospitals to be equipped for resolving moral dilemmas that arise in the care of a patient. Regulation of those professing expertise in clinical ethics is new and untested yet must be evaluated and further developed to protect patients from practitioners who lack expertise in clinical ethics but may promote themselves as qualified. The authors report the development of standard criteria for clinical ethics consultation privileges as one model to protect patients. An institutional medical staff model utilizing approved credentialing mechanisms is a generous umbrella under which patients may be protected, qualified clinical ethicists may practice, and continuous quality improvement may be sought.