Clinical Ethics Consortia

Watch the recording on our YouTube channel.

Topic:

There have been many calls for health care systems to engage and listen to community voices, particularly when making consequential policy decisions about patient care. Such decisions may range from policies for rationing scarce COVID-19 interventions to requiring masking in hospitals in the post-pandemic era, and beyond, to reproductive and transgender care policies in a post-Dobbs public landscape. But what does it really mean to engage the public in deliberation on hospital policies? What are the benefits and hazards of such engagement? What would hospital leaders and community members need to put such a decision-making model into place? And how can ethics leaders facilitate this work?

Join us for a special joint Clinical and Organizational Ethics Consortium exploring the ethics, challenges of, and opportunities for public engagement regarding patient-facing policy. We will hear first about what public engagement is, both in theory and in practice, and then perspectives from a local hospital leader and patient advocate on the promise and challenges of publicly-engaged deliberation to help inform organizational decision-making. Through facilitated discussion amongst speakers and attendees, we will explore a practical approach for this model’s potential application in health care systems.

Presenters:

• Erika Blacksher, PhD, John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics, Center for Practical Bioethics; Research Professor, University of Kansas Medical Center
• Julius Yang, MD, PhD, Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Medicine; Senior Medical Director for Clinical Operations and Analytics, Silverman Institute for Health Care Quality and Safety, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Basel Tarab, MD, MBE, MHA, Director of Patient Experience, Volunteers, and Transport; Co-Chair of Ethics Committee, Winchester Hospital

Moderators:

• Charlotte H. Harrison, PhD, JD, MPH, HEC-C, Immediate Past Hospital Ethicist and Director, Office of Ethics, Boston Children’s Hospital
• Jonathan Marron, MD, MPH, HEC-C, Director of Clinical Ethics, Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics; Instructor in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
• Leanne Homan, RN, BSN, MBE, HEC-C, Associate Director of Clinical Ethics, Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics; Clinical Ethicist, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center