Demand and Supply: Association between Pediatric Ethics Consultation Volume and Protected Time for Ethics Work

Abstract

Background Despite national increase in pediatric ethics consultation volume over the past decade, protected time and resources for healthcare ethics consultancy work has lagged. Methods Correlation study investigating potential associations between ethics consult volume reported by recent national survey of consultants at children’s hospitals and five programmatic domains. Results 104 children’s hospitals in 45 states plus Washington DC were included. There was not a statistically significant association between pediatric ethics consult volume and hospital size, rurality of patient population, or number of consultants. Academically-affiliated children’s hospitals had fewer ethics consults compared to nonacademically affiliated. Association was found between full-time equivalent (FTE) hours and number of ethics consults (p < 0.0001). Spearman rank correlation between ethics consult volume and FTE was 0.5. Conclusions While the results of this study should be interpreted with caution, investment in protected time for ethics consultancy work may translate into increased volume of pediatric ethics consults.