Overview

The Director of Bioethics will be responsible for developing and implementing bioethics programs within their region of Hackensack Meridian Health and will contribute to the success of the mission of the Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Bioethics to create an environment where all clinical, administrative, academic, and research activities reflect HMH's values of quality, integrity, professionalism, teamwork, and communication. This is a leadership position, which reports to the HMH VP, Bioethics.

The Director Bioethics will lead bioethics consultation services at institutions within the region to address ethical dilemmas that arise in the care of specific patients and develop bioethics consultation capacity. The Directors will collaborate to develop and implement policies to address systems, organizational, and research ethics issues, educational programs for team members, students, trainees, and volunteers, quality initiatives that assess and improve bioethics consultation, and will engage in bioethics scholarship. The Director of Bioethics will engage collaborations across HMH and with the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

Effort is allocated as follows:

• 50% clinical activities, including bioethics consultation
• 30% academic, including bioethics education for a variety of learners and bioethics scholarship
• 20% administrative, including development and implementation of policy and service on institutional committees

Responsibilities

1. Lead bioethics consultation services and perform bioethics consultations in the clinical setting at HMH institutions within the region and support growth of expert, high quality bioethics consultation across HMH. These responsibilities include:
• Ensure consult requests are responded to within 24 hours Monday-Friday by gathering initial information about the case from the requester and the attending physician, reviewing the medical record, meeting with key members of the care team and administration, as appropriate. Directors will personally respond to many, but not all consultation requests. They will educate and work with members of Bioethics Committees who serve as local, trained bioethics consultants, to ensure all consult requests are addressed.
• Share night/weekend bioethics consultation phone coverage with other directors of bioethics and with local, trained bioethics consultants.
• Conduct complex conversations/meetings with clinicians, patients, families, risk management, legal counsel, administration, and others and provide ethical analysis.
• Document the consultation recommendations and ethical analysis in the medical record.
• Follow up and monitor implementation of the agreed-upon resolution.
• Provide education to interested and qualified members of the institutional Bioethics Committees,in order to develop and enhance their bioethics knowledge and consultation skills and create a small Bioethics Consultation Team, whose members would be available to participate in selected consultations.
• Summarize consultations for monthly report to and discussion by the HMH Bioethics Committee.
• Collaborate on development and implementation of education of bioethics consultants across HMH.
2. Collaborate with VP, Bioethics and other Directors on quality initiatives in order to track and assess the impact and improve the outcome of bioethics consultation.
3. Co-chair, with local leader, institutional Bioethics Committees within the region, and participate in monthly meetings, educational programs, and policy review and development.
4. Ensure the Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Bioethics fulfills its mission.
5. Develop and implement HMH-wide and educational programs, including symposia, grand rounds, online learning, and case conferences, and unit rounds.
6. Develop and implement bioethics education for HMSOM and other health professions students and trainees.
7. Conduct regular and ad hoc bioethics teaching rounds and case discussions for attending and resident physicians, nurses, social workers, and other team members in the clinical setting.
8. Develop, implement and supervise bioethics internships/rotations for students and residents to work on clinical, research, and other projects.
9. Ensure compliance with regulatory standards relevant to bioethics and patient rights.
10. Collaborate to write and revise bioethics - related policies and implement related education.
11. Engage in service to Hackensack Meridian Health and its Divisions, including participation on committees and councils that address projects or activities with ethical implications.
12. Participate on the HMH Institutional Review Board in reviewing proposed research projects and protocols to ensure adherence to research ethics principles.
13. Serve as ethics expert for research protocols and advise on research ethics.
14. Collaborate with administration, the office of the Regional President, Chief Medical Officer, Risk Management, Legal Counsel, and Compliance as needed.
15. Provide ethics support to funded projects conducted by clinical and administrative departments, as requested.
16. Engage in bioethics scholarship, present at academic conferences, and publish in academic journals and books.
17. Engage in community and professional service in scholarly organizations.
18. Participate in the identification and analysis of ethical issues in the organizational setting, including researching and writing case presentations for the HUMC administration.
19. Other duties and/or projects as assigned.
20. Adheres to HMH Organizational competencies and standards of behavior.
21. Lifts a minimum of 5 lbs., pushes and pulls a minimum of 5 lbs. and stands a minimum of 1 hour a day.
22. Estimated 50% computer based activity.
23. Estimated 40% travel, primarily within HMH region.
    
    Contacts: Regular contact with nursing staff and leadership, medical staff, medical center leadership, network quality and safety leadership, non-nursing personnel, patients and visitors.

Qualifications

Knowledge, Education and Skills Required:

1. Terminal degree in a relevant field (MD/DO, JD, PhD). Exceptional candidates with RN, APN, SW, PA graduate degrees and significant experience may be considered.
2. Graduate-level knowledge of bioethics principles and concepts, and their practical application in the clinical, research, and organizational settings; methods of healthcare ethics consultation, organizational ethics, relevant healthcare law, and ethics program development.
3. Minimum of 5 years experience in the field.
4. Demonstrated excellence in clinical ethics consultation and bioethics education.
5. Outstanding written and oral communication, interpersonal, organizational, teaching, analytic, and leadership skills.
6. Strong interpersonal skills as empathic communicator, careful listener, team leader and team player
7. Demonstrated ability to initiate, prioritize, and manage multiple projects.
8. Ability to work effectively with patients and families as well as healthcare professionals across disciplines.
9. Eligible for faculty appointment at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
10. Healthcare Ethics Consultant certified or eligible.
11. Strong service orientation.
12. Strong sense of integrity.
13. Institutional loyalty.
14. Ability to balance competing demands and to set priorities.

Knowledge, Education and Skills Preferred:

1. Experience in quality improvement.
2. Experience in bioethics curriculum development.
3. Master's or Doctoral degree in bioethics.
   
   Preferred Certification/Licensing: Health Care Ethics Consultant Certification (HEC-C)
   
   

Our Network

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