Demand and Supply: Association between Pediatric Ethics Consultation Volume and Protected Time for Ethics Work

Meaghann S. Weaver, Christopher Wichman, Shiven Sharma, Jennifer K. Walter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Despite national increase in pediatric ethics consultation volume over the past decade, protected time and resources for healthcare ethics consultancy work has lagged. Methods: Correlation study investigating potential associations between ethics consult volume reported by recent national survey of consultants at children’s hospitals and five programmatic domains. Results: 104 children’s hospitals in 45 states plus Washington DC were included. There was not a statistically significant association between pediatric ethics consult volume and hospital size, rurality of patient population, or number of consultants. Academically-affiliated children’s hospitals had fewer ethics consults compared to nonacademically affiliated. Association was found between full-time equivalent (FTE) hours and number of ethics consults (p < 0.0001). Spearman rank correlation between ethics consult volume and FTE was 0.5. Conclusions: While the results of this study should be interpreted with caution, investment in protected time for ethics consultancy work may translate into increased volume of pediatric ethics consults.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)135-142
Number of pages8
JournalAJOB Empirical Bioethics
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

Keywords

  • Pediatrics
  • ethics
  • ethics consultation
  • healthcare ethics
  • organizational ethics
  • pediatric ethics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Philosophy
  • Health Policy

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