11th ICCEC in New York

The 11th International Conference on Clinical Ethics Consultation had the theme “Improving Quality and Professionalism of Clinical Ethics Education & Consultation”, and was hosted by The Bioethics Program of Clarkson & Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, USA, on May 20-22, 2015.

Clinical ethics consultation arose around fifty years ago as a separate voluntary activity on the part of what came to be called “hospital ethics committees” and “clinical ethics consultants.” As ethical issues grew more vexing, demands on time increased and the need for specialized knowledge became increasingly evident. In response, ethics training programs were developed in the US and worldwide. Recently the national bioethics societies in Canada, Europe and the US developed a consensus statement on the core competencies for clinical ethics consultation, effective methods for clinical ethics education, and codes of professional accountability for anyone engaged in clinical ethics consultation.

At the same time, clinical ethicists and their professional associations have attempted to professionalize our field by developing codes of ethics and proposing formal accreditation of clinical ethicists. Simultaneously, training programs developed new methods for teaching and assessing competency in clinical ethics consultation. This conference offered an opportunity to discuss and analyze these developments.