Institutional ethics committees : what is the nurse's role?

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive survey was'to determine the existence, composition, and functions of Institutional Ethics Committees (IECs) in the Southeast. A subpurpose of the study was to describe the role of the nurse member of the IEC. The target population was all hospitals licensed and registered with the State Hospital Association in Georgia and Florida (N~464). A response rate of 41.4% (192} resulted. IECs were reported in 19.4% (37) of the hospitals. The IECs were most frequently found in the :urban and suburban communities and in the not-for-profit .hospitals having 350 or more beds. The membership .composition of the IECs ·was,; multidisciplinary and included physicians, nurses,.· administrators, theologians, lawyers, and laypersons.· Nurse members were reported on 95.2% of the responding IECs, had fu~~voting privileges and equal input in committee discussions. The primary functions reported by the IECs were education (establish clinical awareness of ethical decision making) , policy formulation and prospective consultation (consult with the physi~ian as the case progresses) • The research found similar trends to previous surveys, reported in 1983, in which IECs were located in an urban or suburban community, not-forprofit hospital with .over 350 beds. Two significant findings in this study were the wider representation of multidisciplinary membership of the IEC and an increase in the nurse members of the IEC to 95.2% from less than 50% in the pre~ious. studies.