Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · May 2004
[Health care ethics committees in German university clinics. A survey of all medical directors and directors of nursing].
Health Care Ethics Committees (HEC) are new ways of implementing clinical ethics in hospitals and nursing homes. In the US all health care institutions must provide some structure to handle ethical conflicts in everyday patients' care. However, in Germany only a minority of hospitals, often members of the Protestant or Catholic Hospital Associations, have founded HEC. No studies exist in regard to the situation at German university hospitals. ⋯ Our data show a high need for information about HEC in German university hospitals. The tasks, working methods and chances for further development of HEC are neither known nor used in the majority of German university hospitals.