Charting the future. Credentialing, privileging, quality, and evaluation in clinical ethics consultation

Area of Science:

• Bioethics
• Medical Ethics
• Healthcare Administration

Background:

• Clinical ethics consultation is a vital healthcare resource.
• The field currently lacks formal accreditation, standardized curricula, practice standards, and effectiveness metrics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the absence of formal standards in clinical ethics consultation.
• To pilot-test methodologies for training, credentialing, privileging, and evaluating clinical ethics consultants.

Main Methods:

• The Clinical Ethics Credentialing Project was initiated.
• This project involved piloting various approaches for consultant development and assessment.

Main Results:

• Pilot testing of training and credentialing approaches was conducted.
• Evaluation methods for consultants were explored.

Conclusions:

• Standardized approaches are needed for clinical ethics consultant training and practice.
• Further development is required to establish accreditation and effectiveness measures in clinical ethics consultation.