Director, Clinical Ethics

Overview

Provides operational leadership for Clinical Ethics. Supervises administration of the Clinical Ethics Consultation Service, education and policy development for all acute care facilities per requirements of The Joint Commission and system-wide in accordance with best practices of the profession. Manages Clinical Ethics consultation processes, including provision of 24/7 on-call resources and appropriate response to requests from team members, patients, and patient’s family/loved ones. Ensures appropriate documentation in the medical record and maintains the consult tracking system. Analyzes data from tracking system, identifying trends to inform education for clinical team members, needed system policy changes, and quality improvement opportunities. Develops continuing education for new and experienced clinical ethics consultants, including facilitation of monthly NH Clinical Ethics Assembly meetings. Develops and delivers ethics education for clinical team members and clinical residents. Is responsible for updating and initiating ethics related policies. Supports Choices and Champions initiatives by assisting in design and delivery of education for clinical team members and the community related to advance directives, portable medical orders (MOST/POST, PDNR, DDNR), and code status orders. Represents Clinical Ethics in leadership meetings at the facility and system level.

Collaborates with patient partnership team to assist with mediation of difficult situations, foster communication and understanding, and help facilitate resolution. Participates in IRB deliberations to ensure protection of human subjects involved in research. Actively supports corporate initiatives with ethics dimensions (e.g., NH Reads, PFACs, diversity and inclusion, health equity, etc.). Travels to facilities system-wide as needed to support direct reports, consultation, education, and business needs.

At Novant Health, one of our core values is diversity and inclusion. By engaging the strengths and talents of each team member, we ensure a strong organization capable of providing remarkable healthcare to our patients, families and communities. Therefore, we invite applicants from all group dynamics to apply to our exciting career opportunities.

Qualifications

• Education: 4 Year / Bachelors Degree, required. Doctoral Degree, PhD/DBe in Bioethics or equivalent or JD with rebioethics training, preferred.
• Experience: Minimum 5 years’ experience in clinical ethics consultation and education, required. IRB participation, preferred.
• Licensure/Certification: Healthcare Ethics Consultant – Certified (HEC-C), preferred.
• Additional Skills (required):
• Experience in leading bioethics consultation with demonstrated ability to facilitate resolution of conflicting interests between providers and patients/loved ones, within the medical team and within families.
• Proven ability to identify ethical issues in the clinical and organizational contexts and analyze complex problems within ambiguous contexts.
• Knowledge of best practices for clinical ethics processes, including documentation and data tracking and analysis.
• Ability to determine when collaboration with other service lines, such as Risk and Legal, is necessary.
• Excellent group facilitation, design, and presentation skills reflecting knowledge of adult learning principles.
• Proven ability to lead multiple projects simultaneously to achieve measurable results within agreed upon timetables.
• Exceptional interpersonal communication skills, including mediation, needed to handle sensitive conversations with patients, their loved ones, providers, and team members.
• Ability to develop and enhance the infrastructure of ethics mechanisms across the system to create effective, sustainable, and self-sufficient operations allowing for integration of ethics into clinical operations and clinicians’ workflows.
• Additional Skills/Requirements (preferred):
• Knowledge of human subjects research regulations and application.
  

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of every Novant Health team member to deliver the most remarkable patient experience in every dimension, every time.

• Our team members are part of an environment that fosters team work, team member engagement and community involvement.
• The successful team member has a commitment to leveraging diversity and inclusion in support of quality care.
• All Novant Health team members are responsible for fostering a safe patient environment driven by the principles of "First Do No Harm".