Providence Center for Health Care Ethics provides ethics consultation in the following areas: Clinical: Providence Center for Health Care Ethics offers clinical ethics consultation through its ethics consult teams at the three Portland-area teaching hospitals of Providence Health & Services. These teams, led by center staff (Rev.) John F. Tuohey, Ph.D. and Marian O. Hodges, M.D., consist of Providence-trained physicians, nurses, acute care managers and chaplains who have completed the first 24-hours of our Ethics Core Curriculum Program and have received ongoing mentoring from center staff. An ethics consult can be obtained urgently by paging the center staff or routinely through a designated voicemail/pager system. Consult team members provide a valuable service in triaging consults and in responding to or setting up a more formal consultation meeting when appropriate. To ensure quality, consult teams meet weekly or twice a month to review cases and evaluate performance. More than 60 percent of ethics consults are requested by physicians and residents. Our quality tracking shows that 85 percent of those who request a consult say that they have benefited from it. All consults are tracked in a database from which information can be drawn to improve clinical operations and to inform educational programs. We strive to demonstrate through quantifiable evidence that ethics consults can enhance patient safety and quality of care, reduce the risk of medical error, create efficiencies and contribute to an environment of ethical leadership. Learn more. Organizational: Providence Center for Health Care Ethics has developed a decision-making matrix for the ethical discernment of business and organizational practices. This matrix seeks to assure integrity in these decisions by exploring honesty [integrity] in the pursuit of our Mission, reliability in our commitment of the common good, fairness in the impact on stakeholders and partners, and accountability for our justice concerns and our historical and Roman Catholic ethical tradition. Ethical discernments are usually facilitated by Mission directors. View the matrix. Disaster Planning: Providence Center for Health Care Ethics, in cooperation with the Oregon Medical Advisory Group, has developed a decision-making matrix for use in a pandemic or other high-casualty event. This matrix explores accountability for the key values of social solidarity, adherence to professional standards and justice, along with each values characteristics and related ethical issues. Learn more.
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