Hospital ethics committees: responsibilities, competencies and challenges.

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Healthcare Management
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Hospital Ethics Committees (HECs) provide ethical guidance in clinical settings.
• Their practices, structure, and perceived roles in Israel are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the lived experiences of HEC members in Israeli hospitals.
• To understand the meaning members attach to their roles within HECs.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
• Conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with HEC chairs and members across 9 Israeli hospitals.
• Analyzed data using thematic coding.

Main Results:

• Identified 5 key themes: support provision, committee composition/training, common ethical issues, decisional functioning, and inter-entity relationships/limitations.
• HECs function as dual legal and ethical decision-making bodies.
• Committee potential is constrained by training, collaboration, and engagement gaps.

Conclusions:

• HECs in Israel play a crucial dual role supporting clinicians and patients.
• Systemic deficiencies hinder the full potential of HECs.
• Further research on patient experiences and committee effectiveness is recommended.