Calendar of Events
36th Annual WVNEC Symposium
Just what the Joint Commission Ordered!
An "Ethics Process" to Address Conflict
May 17, 2024
Stonewall Resort and Conference Center
Roanoke, WV
Conflict is at the heart of cases in which ethics consultation is requested. This 36th annual symposium of the West Virginia Network of Ethics Committees will tackle conflict head on! Our keynote speaker, Haavi Morreim, JD, PhD, academician, attorney and active mediator, has over 30 years of experience in resolving conflicts in healthcare settings as both an ethics consultant and a mediator. She runs the Center for Conflict Resolution in Healthcare and is a highly sought after speaker at national meetings. In addition to giving the keynote address, she will participate in the two panel discussions of cases fraught with conflict and indicate how mediation could have helped. One entails disagreement over whether to proceed with tracheostomy and long-term mechanical ventilation in an adolescent with neurologic injury, and the second involves conflict between siblings over who should be making end-of-life decisions for their comatose mother. Haavi will describe how mediation skills can expand the toolkit of ethics consultants, reduce the tensions inherent in conflict, and forge mutually agreeable plans among disputing parties!
In addition, the symposium will address common issues that arise in the ethical and legal care of patients: 1) applying the West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act to patient care; 2) identifying the essential elements of an informed consent discussion to achieve true shared decision-making and patient-centered care, and 3) evaluating whether principlism is sufficient to analyze and resolve conflicts in ethics consultation. As always, WVNEC strongly encourages audience participation--the symposia are lively and thought-provoking. Please bring your questions and tough cases for discussion!
This year the Joint Commission released an updated standard that requires healthcare institutions to have a process to address ethical issues and resolve conflict in patient care. WVNEC is responding with a 2023-2024 WVNEC webinar series that should be particularly relevant, helpful, and affordable! It should be relevant because WVNEC members have reported MORE CONFLICT in patient care than in previous years. It should be helpful because they have contributed some of their toughest cases for the series, and live discussion of how to approach these cases enables active learning of consult skills to resolve ethical conflicts. It should be affordable because for this year the registration for the webinars is included in the WVNEC annual membership fee. There is NO additional charge!
For more information on these programs, call Linda McMillen at 1-304-293-7618.