Ethics Consultation for Mrs. Hamadani – A Focus on Process

Excerpt

My appreciation for process in ethics consultation was taken up a notch after experiencing how much thought our neighbors to the North put into procedural elements of professional practice. In 2011, I was privileged to attend a meeting of Canada’s “Practicing Healthcare Ethicists Exploring Professionalization” (PHEEP) group in Saint John, New Brunswick. Much of that meeting was spent attending to how the newly-formed group would work together. While some of the Canadians bemoaned their commitment to how things are done as much as to what is accomplished, I remember making a “note to self” along the lines of: Attending mindfully to the process of how health care ethics consultation is done is just as important as demonstrating that ethics consultants have requisite skills and knowledge.