Managing Healthcare Ethically, Third Edition, Volume 3: Clinical Challenges

Frontline caregivers face ethical challenges that are very different from those encountered elsewhere in the organization. Healthcare professionals trained on a structured approach to identifying, analyzing, and resolving ethical issues in clinical settings can greatly improve the patient experience and the quality of care.

 

Managing Healthcare Ethically: Clinical Challenges looks at dilemmas that occur in caring for individual patients and groups of patients in today’s changing clinical environment. Assembling columns originally published in American College of Healthcare Executives publications, in particular Healthcare Executive magazine, the book describes and shares practical solutions for the ethical issues that clinical practitioners regularly encounter. It also explores the important role that ethics committees perform in developing and applying policies.

 

Topics covered include:

 

Informed consent The ethics of telemedicine and big data Patient-centered care Conflicts of interest Empathy’s role in improving resiliency

 

Following each column, discussion questions stimulate conversation with colleagues or students. A selected bibliography recommends additional resources for continued learning.

 

Clinical care is at the heart of every healthcare organization, and this book emphasizes the key role that ethics and professionalism play in effectively managing patient experiences and outcomes. The book’s two companion volumes examine ethics through different lenses. Managing Healthcare Ethically: Leadership Roles and Responsibilities focuses on how leaders’ personal ethics and professionalism drive the behaviors of others. Managing Healthcare Ethically: Organizational Concerns addresses how organizations structure their ethical policies and practices. In all, these three volumes demonstrate the essential role of ethics in delivering better patient care.

William A. Nelson, PhD, MDiv, HFACHE, is director of the Ethics and Human Values Program and a professor in the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, the Department of Medical Education, and the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. He serves as the director of multiple courses for Dartmouth’s three master of public health programs and medical school, focusing on healthcare ethics. He also is an adjunct professor at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He was the principal investigator of several federally and state-funded research studies fostering an evidence-based approach to ethics. Dr. Nelson has received many awards, including the US Congressional Excalibur Award for Public Service and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from his alma mater, Elmhurst College. The US Department of Veterans Affairs established the annual competitive William A. Nelson Award for Excellence in Health Care Ethics.

Paul B. Hofmann, DrPH, LFACHE, is president of the Hofmann Healthcare Group in Moraga, California. Although he devotes a majority of his time to pro bono activities, he continues to write, speak, and consult on ethical issues in healthcare and to serve as an advisor to healthcare companies and as an expert witness. Dr. Hofmann has served as executive director of Emory University Hospital and director of Stanford University Hospital and Clinics. For 19 years, he coordinated the annual two-day ethics seminar for the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is coeditor of Management Mistakes in Healthcare: Identification, Correction and Prevention, published in 2005 by Cambridge University Press. He serves on the American Hospital Association’s Quest for Quality Prize committee, the Joint Commission’s international Standards Advisory Panel, and the board of trustees of the Education Development Center. He is a cofounder of Operation Access and the Alliance for Global Clinical Training.