Fox Ethics Consulting, Arlington, Virginia USA.
National Center for Ethics in Health Care, Veterans Health Administration, District of Columbia USA.
J Clin Ethics. 2021 Fall;32(3):247-255.
To help inform the development of more accessible, acceptable, and effective ethics consultation (EC) training programs, we conducted an EC training needs assessment, exploring ethics practitioners' opinions on: the relative importance of various EC practitioner competencies; the potential market for EC training (that is, how many individuals would benefit and how much individuals and hospitals would be willing to pay); and the preferred content, format, and characteristics of EC training.
As part of a multipart study, we surveyed "best informants" who self-identified as the person most actively involved in EC or healthcare ethics in a random sample of 600 U.S. general hospitals, stratified for bed size.
The competency that was ranked most important for a lead or solo ethics consultant was knowledge of ethics, while common sense was ranked least important. The median estimated number of individuals at each hospital who would benefit from EC training was six at the basic level, three at the advanced level, and two for EC management training. In 19.1 percent of hospitals, respondents thought their hospital would not be willing to pay anything for EC training within the next two years. Respondents thought potential trainees would be likely to participate in EC training on multiple different topics. Opinions varied widely on preferred formats. Most respondents thought it very important to be able to interact with instructors and with other trainees, practice EC skills, receive a certificate for completing EC training, and complete EC training during work hours.
These findings provide U.S. population data that may be useful to healthcare educators and bioethics leaders in their efforts to develop EC training programs and products that match trainees' preferences and needs.
为了帮助制定更易获取、更易接受和更有效的伦理咨询（EC）培训计划，我们进行了一项 EC 培训需求评估，探讨伦理从业者对以下方面的看法：各种 EC 从业者能力的相对重要性；EC 培训的潜在市场（即有多少人受益，个人和医院愿意支付多少费用）；以及 EC 培训的首选内容、形式和特点。
作为一项多部分研究的一部分，我们对 600 家美国综合医院的随机样本进行了调查，这些医院按床位数分层，由自我认定为 EC 或医疗保健伦理方面最活跃的人作为“最佳知情者”参与调查。
对于首席或独立伦理顾问，排名最重要的能力是伦理学知识，而常识则被认为是最不重要的。每家医院估计有 6 人在基本水平、3 人在高级水平、2 人在 EC 管理培训中受益于 EC 培训。在 19.1%的医院中，受访者认为他们的医院在未来两年内不会愿意为 EC 培训支付任何费用。受访者认为潜在的学员可能会有兴趣参加多个不同主题的 EC 培训。对首选格式的意见差异很大。大多数受访者认为能够与讲师和其他学员互动、实践 EC 技能、获得完成 EC 培训的证书以及在工作时间内完成 EC 培训非常重要。
这些发现提供了美国人口数据，这些数据可能对医疗保健教育者和生物伦理领导者制定符合学员偏好和需求的 EC 培训计划和产品有用。
