Digital Medical Ethics Network launches ethics counselling in Brandenburg

Difficult ethical questions arise time and again in the medical field. When should treatment be continued at the end of life? What happens if a person is unable to express their wishes? These situations can be very stressful for patients, relatives and healthcare staff. Ethical counselling services have therefore been established in many hospitals. They provide support and advice in difficult treatment situations. However, such services are not yet available everywhere. Furthermore, difficult ethical questions do not only arise in hospitals: They are just as prevalent in care homes for the elderly or GP surgeries. In order to offer ethical support in such situations, the Junior Professorship for Medical Ethics at the Faculty of Health Sciences has now launched Brandenburg's first remote ethics counselling service.

"Ethics counselling - or ethical case counselling - involves structured discussions between the people involved, which are led by a trained counsellor. Above all, moral conflicts that may arise during medical treatment are discussed. An attempt is made to reach a joint solution with all those involved, taking into account important values such as the health of those affected, but also their self-determination," explains Prof. Dr Robert Ranisch. He heads the Junior Professorship for Medical Ethics with a focus on digitalisation.

Ranisch's advisory team is interdisciplinary and has expertise in medical and ethical issues. It currently consists of medical ethicists and trained doctors. "Depending on the case, we then call in further expertise from other fields. We try to bring all the perspectives involved to the table," says Dr Joschka Haltaufderheide. He has been researching ethics consultation structures for a long time and organises the development of the service as part of the team.

Closing the care gap

Especially in a state like Brandenburg, there are many decentralised care facilities and more than 50 hospitals that could benefit from the support. The distances are often long. There are not always people available locally who are familiar with the moderation of ethical case consultations. This is where the Brandenburg Ethics Consultancy is intended to provide support. Patients and healthcare professionals can make enquiries by telephone or via a website via a central contact point. The team makes contact, arranges help on site or provides counselling itself via video conference.

Counselling via video conference makes it possible to respond flexibly to enquiries. "We hope that we can close a gap in care in Brandenburg in this way," adds Dr Esther Braun. The doctor and medical ethicist coordinates the central contact point and is the team's first point of contact for enquiries. There is already some experience with such services elsewhere. The Brandenburg ethics counselling team has drawn on this experience. "We exchanged ideas throughout Germany in advance and were able to benefit from many experiences." The service is now set to enter its first phase in Brandenburg. The experiences will be analysed in a year's time.

Contact with the ethics counselling service

The Brandenburg Ethics Counselling Service is part of the Digital Medical Ethics Network funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. The central point of contact can now be reached at https://www.ethikberatung-brandenburg.de (website in German).

Scientific contact:

Dr Joschka Haltaufderheide
Research Associate at the Junior Professorship for Medical Ethics with a focus on digitalisation
University of Potsdam
Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg
Am Mühlenberg 9
14476 Potsdam
T 0331/977-213830
E joschka.haltaufderheide(at)uni-potsdam.de

Press contact:

Antje Horn-Conrad
University of Potsdam
Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg
Press and Public Relations Department
T +49 (0)331 977 1474
E presse(at)uni-potsdam.de

The Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg was founded in 2018 as a joint faculty of the University of Potsdam, the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg in order to develop new medical, nursing and medical technology care services as well as innovative study programmes. In cooperation with other universities and research institutions, the faculty contributes to the improvement of medical care in Brandenburg. www. fgw-brandenburg.de