Supportive Consultation
The Ethics Committee is available to assist patient-guests, their families and healthcare professionals when difficulty is experienced in decision-making with regard to what is the right choice.
A consultation with selected representatives of the committee may help all participants to better understand what the choices are and to clarify the values involved in the decision. The ethics consultation group serves as a sounding board.
Consultations are confidential and advisory. A patient-guest and family’s right to privacy and sensitive treatment of their concerns is always respected.
The committee encourages the use of ethics decision-making processes in all aspects of healthcare. Although the committee does not set hospital policies or procedures, it does review and comment on many of them.
It is the aim of the committee to not only solve problems in ethics as they arise, but to seek ways to prevent problems from occurring. The goal of the ethics committee is to transform the culture—both in organizational and patient-guest care practices.
The committee networks with other ethics groups, healthcare organizations, agencies, and individuals who serve healthcare providers. The committee does this to enhance the ethics of both clinical and organizational practices across the continuum of
health care.
What Can You Do?
The following are ways you can be prepared to make hard healthcare decisions:
• Have a patient/physician conversation about what your choices would be regarding an acceptable quality of life.
• Discuss and prepare Medical Advance Directives, i.e. Durable Medical Power of Attorney or Five Wishes.
• Encourage communications among healthcare providers and patient-guests regarding concerns and personal preferences in healthcare treatment.
• Attend Community Hospital ethics educational programs.
• Attend public forums and presentations on bio-medical ethics issues and debates.
• The public library, Community Hospital’s medical library, and the Internet have helpful publications for all levels of interest.
Community Hospital
Community Hospital balances the complexities of medicine with a whole-person approach to healing. We are on the outside a friendly, warm, community hospital, but inside we’re smart, forward-thinking, strategic and the proud owners of some pretty amazing medical technology.
Your Health Resource
We want to help you make informed decisions about your health. Our library, containing journals, videos, pamphlets and books, is open to the public. Use the comprehensive on-line health resource, Medline Plus, to help you find the consumer health and wellness information you need, or search Pubmed for clinical information.
SearchMedica
SearchMedica is a specialized medical search engine that connects medical professionals with well-known, credible journals, peer-reviewed research, and evidence-based articles written for practicing healthcare professionals.
