Models of Ethics Consultation Used by Canadian Ethics Consultants: A Qualitative Study

HEC Forum. 2016 Dec;28(4):273-282. doi: 10.1007/s10730-015-9299-z.

Abstract

This article describes a qualitative study of models of ethics consultation used by ethics consultants in Canada. We found four different models used by Canadian ethics consultants whom we interviewed, and one sub-variant. We describe (1) the lone ethics consultant model, (1a) the hub-and-spokes sub-variant of this model; (2) the ethics committee model; (3) the capacity-building model; and (4) the facilitated model. Previous empirical studies of ethics consultation describe only two or three of these models.

Keywords: Bioethics; Clinical ethics; Ethics consultation; Health care ethics; Organizational ethics.

MeSH terms

  • Canada
  • Decision Support Techniques*
  • Ethics Committees*
  • Ethics Consultation / standards*
  • Ethics Consultation / trends
  • Humans
  • Qualitative Research