• J La Puma, C B Stocking, C M Darling, and M Siegler.
• Center for Clinical Ethics, Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Illinois 60068.
• Am. J. Med. 1992 Apr 1; 92 (4): 346351346-51.

BackgroundEthics consultants may improve patient care by responding to physician requests for assistance with problems they identify as ethical issues.ObjectiveTo examine three aspects of ethics consultation: the clinical questions asked; the helpfulness of the consultation to requesting physicians; and the differences between consultations performed at a community teaching hospital and those performed at a university hospital.SettingsA community teaching hospital and a university teaching hospital.SubjectsPhysicians who formally requested ethics consultations in both hospitals and the patients for whom they requested them.MethodsOver 2 years (January 1, 1988, to December 31, 1989), we prospectively evaluated a newly established clinical ethics consultation service in a community teaching hospital using confidentially completed, pretested, structured questionnaires, and compared our data with previously reported university hospital data.ResultsDuring the 2-year study, 104 consultation requests were received from 68 physicians in eight departments. Requesters most often requested consultation about deciding to forego life-sustaining treatment (74%), resolving disagreements (46%), and assessing patient competence (30%). Requesters found the consultation "very helpful" or "helpful" in one or more aspects of patient care in 86% of cases, or in one or more aspects of physician education in 86% of cases. These data are similar to university hospital data.

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