Clinical Ethicist

Northside Hospital is award-winning, state-of-the-art, and continually growing. Constantly expanding the quality and reach of our care to our patients and communities creates even more opportunity for the best healthcare professionals in Atlanta and beyond. Discover all the possibilities of a career at Northside today.

The Clinical Ethicist provides consultative and educational services to patients, their families, and hospital staff on ethical concerns within the healthcare system. They perform a variety of clinical, consultative, educational and planning functions in support of the Northside Hospital Clinical Ethics Committee's Consultation Service. All duties are performed in accordance with best practice and in concert with policies, procedures, and guidelines. Reporting to NSH Director of Patient Care Administration and Chairpersons Ethics Committee, this position will support the Ethics Committee and Consultation Service serving Northside hospitals within the system.

Independently performs ethics consultations, participates in the educational and organizational Ethics mission of the system and assists in the quality monitoring of the impact of ethics consultations. Assists with development and updating of institutional policies for compliance with health system policies, state, and federal law concerning ethical issues; works in concert with the Ethics Consultation Service leadership to meet the Joint Commission and other external accreditation agency requirements for a Clinical Ethics Consultation service.

Responsible for

• Performing as a member of the Clinical Ethics Consultation service which includes meeting the clinical consultation needs of patients and their families, physicians, nurses, and other licensed and non-licensed patient care providers throughout the Northside system of hospitals.
• Partnering with other Clinical Ethics Consultants to identity opportunities for skills' set and professional improvement.
• Providing education in bioethics and Clinical Ethics Consultation strategies to other team members to improve the quality of the consultation service. Identifying education and learning needs of (clinical) licensed staff and support staff within the organization; and, providing education opportunities to meet those needs.
• Submitting electronic information into a system-wide electronic database to track Ethics Clinical Consultation activities. Developing and monitoring electronic datasets for Ethics consultations from hospitals within the system to measure process and outcome benchmarks
• Developing and participating in the measurement of quality indicators for Ethics Consultations provided by the Clinical Ethics Consultation Service. Participating in quality initiatives such as case review and grand rounds (as examples).
• Providing active input to the Northside Hospital Ethics Committee, a multi-disciplinary group whose members offer guidance on the organization's and community's needs for Ethics education and clinical practice development.
• Participating in networking, profession growth and educational opportunities within the organization, the greater Atlanta area and the state - with other providers of Clinical Ethics Consultations and other healthcare organizational ethics committees.

Collaborating with Medical Staff Office, Nursing. Clinical Leadership, Patient Care Relations and Risk Management/Legal Counsel on the work of the Ethics Committee.

REQUIRED

1. Master's degree or doctoral degree in ethics, bioethics, philosophy or related field; PhD, JD, MSN or MS in other field with clinical ethics consultation experience.
2. Three (3) years of clinical experience in an acute care hospital in a clinical or similar role.
3. Experience in healthcare ethics case consultation either as an individual/independent ethics consultant or ethics consultation team member, or as a bioethics student or fellow in a supervised clinical experience.
4. Demonstrated basic competence in clinical ethics consultations; or, certificate in bioethics from accredited university.
5. National professional certification in Healthcare Ethics Consulting Certification (HEC-C, or equivalent) within 12 months of meeting criteria for examination.

PREFERRED

1. Experience as leader of a multi-hospitals system Ethics Consultation Service.
2. Experience of performing/leading complex ethics case consultation of all age populations (neonates to elderly) at the request of multiple disciplines.
3. Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) degree desirable.
4. APRN and/or Clinical (Nurse) Specialist degree and experience desirable.
5. Post graduate education in ethics desirable.
6. National professional certification in Healthcare Ethics Consulting Certification (HEC-C, or equivalent), desirable.
7. Knowledge and experience in measuring quality metrics and/or outcomes for Ethics Consultations.
8. Knowledge and experience in the utilization of personal computers and the application of word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation programs.
9. Experience in public speaking, presentations; participating or leading CME/CNE programs.
10. Knowledge and skills in clinical ethics, ethics case consultation methodologies, and consultation documentation.
11. Ability to effectively navigate and document in Cerner or other similar electronic medical record. Ability to identify key documentation items within an active medical record. Competence in creation and documentation of collaborative or Ethics team progress notes in a patient's medical record.
12. Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
13. Ability to work sensitively and professionally with patients and families as well as to work collaboratively with healthcare professionals across multiple disciplines.
14. Experience/familiarity with and collaboration among multi-disciplinary teams.
15. Excellent teaching abilities, both to individuals and groups in formal and informal presentation settings.
16. Strong interpersonal skills.