ABSTRACT
Medical educators have not identified effective approaches for interprofessional ethics education of clinicians who work in intensive care units (ICUs), in spite of the fact that ICUs have a high incidence of ethical conflicts. As a first step in designing an interprofessional ethics education initiative tailored to the needs of ICU team members, we interviewed 12 professionals from the medical and surgical ICUs of a tertiary care academic medical center to understand what they know about medical ethics. Respondents were interviewed between November 2016 and February 2017. We used the ‘think aloud’ approach and realist thematic analysis of the sessions to evaluate the extent and content of interprofessional team members’ knowledge of medical ethics. We found wide variation in their knowledge of and facility in applying the principles and concepts of biomedical ethics and ways of resolving ethical conflicts. Ethics education tailored to these areas will help equip critical care professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to discuss and address ethical conflicts encountered in the ICU. Preventive ethics rounds are one approach for providing real-time, embedded interprofessional ethics education in the clinical setting.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine and the ICU faculty and staff who supported this project.
Declaration on Interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
Data Availability
The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the participants’ privacy.
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Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.
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Notes on contributors
Janice Firn
Janice Firn is affiliated in Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences (CBSSM) and University of Michigan Medical School.
Crystal Rui
Crystal Rui is affiliated in the University of Michigan Medical School.
Christian Vercler
Christian Vercler is affiliated in Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences (CBSSM) and University of Michigan Medical School.
Raymond De Vries
Raymond De Vries is affiliated in Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences (CBSSM) and University of Michigan Medical School.
Andrew Shuman
Andrew Shuman is affiliated in Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences (CBSSM) and University of Michigan Medical School.