Ethics decision-making in Australian hospitals

Abstract

Objective: To describe the methods used to resolve ethical issues in hospitals throughout Australia.

Design: A descriptive study from data collected by a questionnaire survey of Australian public and private hospitals.

Participants: Hospital administrators and employees nominated by hospital administrators.

Results: Completed questionnaires were received from 739 (74%) hospitals. Methods used to resolve ethical issues included personal reflection, discussion between health professionals and discussion between health professionals and patients. A variety of committees were identified as having some role in the discussion of ethical issues, but only a small number of hospitals had established ethics committees.

Conclusion: Doctor-patient interaction and discussion between practitioners are the most common methods used to resolve ethical issues. Various committees are also used and, of these, ethics committees are not the most commonly consulted.