Clinical Ethicist

Job Description

About the Company

Wellstar Health System is a not-for-profit health system that provides a wide range of healthcare services to the communities it serves. With over 11,000 employees and 10 hospitals, Wellstar is one of the largest healthcare systems in Georgia. Wellstar is committed to providing high-quality, compassionate care to its patients and their families.

Job Description

The Clinical Ethicist is an active member of the ethics program at Wellstar Health System performing clinical ethics consultation, ethics education, and ethics policy development and review. The Ethics Program enjoys robust institutional support and is looking to become a leader in the field of clinical, organizational, and research ethics. The health system is creating a fully integrated, collaborative approach to addressing ethical issues, and the clinical ethicist is key to developing this initiative.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a member and expert advisor to local Ethics Committees.
• Works on expanding the knowledge base and functions of local ethics committees.
• In conjunction with ethics committee co-chairs, represents the ethics committee on the system organizational ethics committee.
• Works to standardize ethics procedures within local facilities and across the health system.
• Engages in quality improvement activities to reduce ethics quality gaps, including the development and evaluation of clinical ethics initiatives and materials.
• Assists in developing an ethical framework for the organization.
• Designs and develops evaluation tools or approaches to evaluate ethics programs and ethics practices within Wellstar Health System.
• Reviews and revises system policies and guidelines as they relate to the Ethics Program.
• Assures local and system compliance with accreditation and agency standards pertaining to clinical ethics, organizational ethics, and research ethics.
• Planning, delivery, and evaluation of ethics education for healthcare providers, residents, students, and the community.
• Develops and implements education materials for ethics committee members.
• Helps develop innovative approaches to distance learning, including website and online strategies, to enhance and/or supplement more conventional or traditional learning styles/opportunities.
• Contributes to ethics educational efforts, including on-site formal and informal presentations, regional and local guided discussions, conference planning, and the preparation of presentations, written materials, training tools, and webinars.
• Development and implementation of ethics curricula for the full range of clinical and non-clinical employees.
• Contributes to the education and development of ethics research assistants, interns, and fellows.
• Conducts collaborative and independent ethics scholarship with dissemination of work through publication and presentations.
• Develops, implements, and evaluates the Ethics Assessment Survey, including administration, modifications, question development and testing, validation of findings, comparisons to other health system data, and evaluation of results.
• Responds to health system ethics consultation requests and conducts individual ethics consults and facilitates team consults.
• Analyzes and improves ethics consultation methods.
• Works closely with the healthcare team at his or her facility to familiarize them with the consult service and to build trust.
• Develops and implements bedside “ethics rounding” within the health system.
• Provides ongoing training, education, and evaluation of consult service members.
• Provides ethics consultation reports to the local ethics committee, health system, organizational ethics committee, and medical executive committee.
• Develops and attends ethics case review meetings every other week and prepares literature for review.
• Maintains case records, documentation of case consults in patient medical records, and ethics consultation database.
• Participates in ethics consultation service night and weekend coverage.
• Assists in the development of ethics consultation services within Wellstar Health System.

Qualifications

• Required Minimum Education: Graduate of an accredited undergraduate university/college and Master’s Degree in an applicable field, e.g., ethics, law, social work, theology.
• Required Minimum Experience: Experience: One (1) to three (3) years of experience working in a healthcare setting or system; prior work performing clinical ethics consultation, education, and policy development preferred; Five (5) years or more performing clinical ethics consultation preferred.
• Required Minimum Skills: Demonstrated knowledge of principles, concepts, and methods involved in clinical ethics and clinical ethics consultation; Intermediate computer skills including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; Must have excellent communication skills and be able to interact with all stakeholders in the health system; Must be able to work with patients and their families in a respectful and collaborative manner; Demonstrated experience in delivering ethics education programming; Ability to travel to outpatient facilities within WellStar service area in various locations and work environments; Skilled in project management and team facilitation; The candidate must have a strong commitment to the professionalization of clinical ethics.
• Required Minimum License(s) and Certification(s): None.