Clinical Ethicist offers guidance to patients, their families, and professional staff on ethical, legal and policy issues and concerns stemming from clinical interactions between health care professionals and patients. Provides guidance to the institutional ethics committee pertaining to policy formulation and educational and case review activities. Being a Clinical Ethicist develops institutional policies concerning ethical issues such as "do-not-resuscitate" and "withdrawal of life-support". Requires a master's degree or doctorate related to health ethics. Additionally, Clinical Ethicist typically reports to a manager or head of a unit/department. To be a Clinical Ethicist typically requires 4 to 7 years of related experience. Contributes to moderately complex aspects of a project. Work is generally independent and collaborative in nature. (Copyright 2024 Salary.com)
At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better healthcare, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. At Northwestern Medicine, we pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, we take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?
The Nurse Ethicist reflects the mission, vision, and values of NM, adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.
The Nurse Ethicist is charged with promoting ethical competence and moral resilience of nurses at all levels of the organization through education, initiatives to mitigate moral distress, and oversight of the Clinical Ethics Resource Nurse (CERN) program. The position has been created at the request of nursing executive leadership, even as the Nurse Ethicist will function as a core member of the Medical Ethics team.
The Medical Ethics Program responds to over 400 formal requests for clinical consultation each year spanning a broad range of concerns, medical specialties, and complexity. Requests from nurses (APNs, RNs, and Nursing Managers) account for almost 25% of the current clinical consultation volume, in no small part due to the highly visible role of the 25-30 CERNs who serve as point persons for ethical concerns for all ICUs as well as medicine, neurology, surgical, oncology, and other specialty units.
The NMH Medical Ethics Program promotes ethical competency of providers through monthly Ethics Grand Rounds, Unit-based Ethics Case Conferences, and an Ethics Foundations Course, among other initiatives. Recognizing that ethical dilemmas, uncertainty, and conflicts are a large contributor to staff distress and burnout, the program supports an active Moral Distress Consultation Service with demonstrated success in facilitating interprofessional communication, building moral resilience, and promoting ethical climate.
The Medical Ethics Program also partners with hospital administration, nursing leadership, and medical faculty to address organizational level issues when requested such as Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives and Advanced Care Planning Improvement Projects. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Medical Ethics Program led NM system-wide efforts to promote ethical allocation of scarce resources (ICU beds, ventilators, PPE) and developed guidelines for balancing patient rights with risk in visitation and discharge protocols. Promoted by the need for preparedness, the ethics program partners with key stakeholders in emerging and anticipated areas of need.
A robust Medical Ethics Committee includes diverse membership from among physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, administrative leadership, legal counsel, and community representatives, who assist in policy development and implementation of programs and who serve as ethics champions throughout the institution. A warm collegial exchange flows between the NMH Medical Ethics Program and its campus neighbors of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the Donnelly Program for Bioethics at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, and the Ethics Advisory Board at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital.
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Northwestern Medicine is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation or any other protected status.