Facility: Wellstar MCG Health

Position Summary: 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 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. The individual reports directly to the leadership team for the Ethics Program.

Responsibilities:

Ethics Consultation
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 health system.
Provide ongoing training, education and evaluation of consult service members.
Develop and attend ethics case review meetings every other week and prepare literature for review.
Maintain case records, documentation of case consults in patient medical record and ethics consultation database.
Participate in ethics consultation service night and weekend coverage.
Assists in the development of ethics consultation services within WellStar Health System

Ethics Policy Development and Revision
Reviews and revises system policies and guidelines as it relates to Ethics Program.
Assures local and system compliance with accreditation and agency standards pertaining to clinical ethics, organizational and research ethics

Ethics Education
Planning, delivery and evaluation of ethics education for health care providers, residents, students and 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 an 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.
Contribute to the education and development of ethics research assistants, interns and fellows.

Ethics Research and Research Ethics
Conduct 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

Ethics Programming and Evaluation
Develops and contributes to ethics programming across the health system to include Ethics Advisory Group, Ethics Liasion Network, and Ethics Grand Rounds, amongst others.
Contributes to the Evaluation of Ethics Department and in particular ethics consultation service for quality improvement
Attend local committees, e.g., mortality, P&T, LOS, and others as needed to contribute an ethical perspective to ongoing work within local sites.

Position Requirements:Graduate of an accredited undergraduate university/college with Master's degree in applicable field, e.g., ethics, law, social work, theology and 1-3 years of experience working in healthcare setting or system.