Please note - All ethics committees do not function in the same way or have identical responsibilities. The following information describes only the committee at the University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospitals in Edmonton.
What does the Clinical Ethics Committee do?
The overarching purpose of the Committee is to contribute to respectful, fair, and compassionate patient care. More specifically, its focus is on three areas: evaluation of policies, education of hospital personnel, and case consultations for the University and Stollery Children's hospitals. The Committee meets once a month.
So what is the Committee not responsible for?
The Committee is not involved in medical research ethics. Other committees, known as research panels, are responsible for evaluating from an ethical perspective research that involves people as the test subjects. These committees are associated with the University of Alberta in connection with its research mandate and interests.
What is the difference between the University of Alberta Hospital's Clinical Ethicist and the Clinical Ethics Committee?
The Clinical Ethicist has extensive formal training, both practical and theoretical, in health ethics. Moreover the Ethicist's responsibilities are focused solely on the ethical aspects of healthcare at the University Hospital, whether it is at the "level" of research, patients, the professions, or the organization/system. Central to the Ethicist's role is ongoing work with treatment/care teams or care units to maintain and enhance their ethically-sound practices and interactions in the day-to-day care of patients. In contrast, members of the Committee have full-time jobs in either other disciplines and/or in other organizations. At present, the Clinical Ethicist serves as a co-chair of the Ethics committee and is therefore in a more official or formal position to share her knowledge and skills with committee members.
Can you explain further what the Clinical Ethics Committee does?
The policies that the Committee evaluates are those that deal with the "humane" side of medical treatment and care. Another way of explaining this is that the Committee is not involved in policies focusing on only scientific, technical, or management concerns. A policy under review or development is brought forward to the Committee by the hospital's Clinical Ethicist. She presents her research, analysis, and recommendations to the Committee. The Committee then provides its own insights and suggestions about the policy. The Clinical Ethicist later meets with the policy leader to convey the results of these discussions and analyses.
In terms of education, Committee members present talks on the ethical components of treatment and care to various groups in the hospital. The Committee organizes special activities during Bioethics Week, a province-wide focus on bioethics. The date for this annual event is typically the first week in March; information about the hospital's activities is posted here several weeks beforehand.
Consultation services are multi-dimensional just as clinical or patient situations are multi-dimensional. Some of these services are handled only by the clinical ethicist and some are handled by the ethics committee.
Refer to How Can I Access these Ethics Services? for more information.
Who is on the Committee?
Members include people who work in an area of the hospital as well as those who are involved in healthcare, but do not work for the hospital. The represented areas include physicians, nurses, therapists, social workers, palliative care staff, pastoral care staff, laboratory staff, health law lawyers, nutritionists, and community representatives. These people bring diverse professional knowledge and diverse experience with issues that ultimately relate to patient care.
Bioethics - More information
Bioethics link:
www.ualberta.ca/BIOETHICS/page7.html
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