Mediation as a Tool in Clinical Ethics

Healthcare professionals, paticnts, and their surrogates are confronted with situations when it is difficult to decide the right or best moral course of action in the clinical care of patients. The difficulty in resolving such situations leads to moral conflicts, which need to be resolved for the optimal care of patients. However, the optimal care of any patient requires more than just resolving a single conflicting situation because healthcare delivery is a dynamic system, which changes to respond to the changing needs of any patient. This means that providing optimal care for any single patient depends on all the factors necessary to sustain the human and material resources. for optimal care. What are these factors? How can they be explored during clinical ethics consultation to achieve an outcome that satisfies the parties? What should be the outcome of clinical ethics consultation? Current literature showed a lack of a standard instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical ethics consultation.A conceptual framework for clinical ethics consultation using mediation and an ethical analysis based on respect for the dignity of human life was developed. The framework was compared with the traditional four-topic model recommended by Jonsen et al for clinical ethics consultation for effectiveness or clarity of outcome.