Librarians Embedded in Ethics

ABSTRACT

Hospitals nationwide are coping with increasingly complex ethical issues, both biomedical as well as administrative. Librarians in the Department of Veterans Affairs have found that becoming embedded in the IntegratedEthics (IE) structure at their hospitals provides value to the organization and utilizes many of the skills inherent in the profession. This article briefly summarizes the IE structure developed by the VA’s National Center for Ethics in Health Care (NCEHC) and describes the ways in which VA librarians are participating in or contributing to IE. The authors urge librarians in other healthcare systems to contribute to ethics committees and activities in their own organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Health care ethics
• interprofessional relations
• interdisciplinary communication
• librarians
• libraries
• medical
• professional role