Hospital Ethics Committees in Poland

Abstract

According to UNESCO guidelines, one of the four forms of bioethics committees in medicine are the Hospital Ethics Committees (HECs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the above guidelines are implemented in real practice. There were 111 hospitals selected out of 176 Polish clinical hospitals and hospitals accredited by Center of Monitoring Quality in Health System. The study was conducted by the survey method. There were 56 (50%) hospitals that responded to the survey. The number of HECs members fluctuated between 3 and 16 members, where usually 5 (22% of HECs) members were part of the board committee. The composition of the HECs for professions other than physicians was diverse and non-standardized (nurses-in 86% of HECs, clergy-42%, lawyers-38%, psychologists-28%, hospital management-23%, rehab staff-7 %, patient representatives-3%, ethicists-2%). Only 55% of HECs had a professional set of standards. 98% of HECs had specific tasks. 62% of HECs were asked for their expertise, and 55% prepared <6.88% of the opinions were related to interpersonal relations between hospital personnel, patients and their families with emphasis on the interactions between superiors and their inferiors or hospital staff and patients and their families. Only 12% of the opinions were reported by the respondents as related to ethical dilemmas. In conclusion, few Polish hospitals have HECs, and the structure, services and workload are not always adequate. To ensure a reliable operation of HECs requires the development of relevant legislation, standard operating procedures and well trained members.

Clinical Ethics Support for Healthcare Personnel: An Integrative Literature Review

“…Additionally, they can give an “expert” opinion regarding issues, such as the provision of treatment against a patient’s will and the disclosure of medical information against a patient’s wishes when it might be deemed necessary (Wenger et al 2002 ). Clinical ethics committees promote an ethical dimension to health care and generate possibilities for improvement in care quality (Caminiti et al 2011 ; Czarkowski et al 2015 ).…”

“…Telephone interviews, n = 4 To give an overview of the different types of activities of Italian ethics committees and support for ethical discussion at a European level This study surveys the types of activities carried out by ethics committees: to promote the training, education and information of healthcare staff, patients and families or the public; to advise on the care of individual patients; to upon a specific request, to assess the ethical dimension and the feasibility of quality of care improvement programs developed at a local level; and to provide guidance upon request by institutional bodies on subjects of particular ethical or social relevance currently under debate. Czarkowski et al ( 2015 ). Hospital ethics committees in Poland.…”

Perceptions of important outcomes of moral case deliberations: a qualitative study among healthcare professionals in childhood cancer care

“…Other evaluation studies do indeed seem to suggest that CESS improves the quality of care [42,43], yet few studies show whether this is actually the case and what speci c CESS outcomes actually contribute to quality of care, and in what way [44,45]. Participants did not express paediatric speci c data.…”

Responding to Hospital Staff’s Paranormal Experiences Related to a Medical Assistance in Dying Room

“…Of the documented literatures published on the history of HECs in different countries, 22 belong to western countries and began around 1985 (5,7,9,13,14,(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). The history and process of the development of HECs in western countries are provided in this section based on the year the committees were established.…”