In May of 1994, a telephone survey of 128 nursing homes in New York City was conducted at Frances Schervier Nursing Care Center (formerly Frances Schervier Home and Hospital) to determine how many facilities had an existing Ethics Committeee (or were in the process of forming one), and if there was a need for nursing facilities to work together with regard to ethics and ethical decision making in long-term care. All but one facility (who said it had no ethical issues) were strongly in favor of forming a network for collaboration, support, and education. As a result of this survey, the NYCLTCEN was created.
The Ethics Network thought it would be interesting to see what changes, if any, have occurred since the Network's inception over five years ago and, thus, a repeat survey was conducted in the late Spring of 1999 with the assistance of two volunteers, Jackie Bui and Margaret McCabe. In addition to questions that were asked in the original survey, questions regarding the professionals' knowledge of the Ethics Network were added. At least four attempts were made to speak with either the Director of Social Service, the Administrator, and/or the Chair of the Ethics Committee at the 128 nursing homes that were identified in the first survey. Only 122 of the original 128 nursing homes could be reached. However, even with repeated attempts, only 69 of the facilities participated in the 1999 survey. We would like to thank those of you who did respond to the survey. The results are as follows:
RESULTS OF NYCLTCEN
TELEPHONE SURVEYS
% Long-Term Care Facilities with ethics committees
1994..........41%
1999..........71%
Approximate number of facilities having an ethics committee
1994..........48
1999..........75*
RESULTS OF 1999 SURVEY
Persons most likely to chair ethics committee
Social Service Director.......33%
Medical Director................21%
Administrator.....................17%
All others...........................29%
Frequency of ethics committee meetings
Regularly............................40%
Ad hoc basis.......................50%
As needed............................8%
Not sure...............................2%
Regularity of meetings
Weekly.................................4%
Bi-weekly.............................9%
Monthly..............................39%
Quarterly.............................43%
Unsure..................................5%
Length of time committee existed*2
Just beginning.......................8%
1 year..................................18%
2 to 4 years..........................36%
5 to 15 years........................26%
Not sure...............................10%
* Since 1994, another 31 facilities that we are aware of have started an ethics committee and four were not able to sustain the committee (48+31-4=75).
*2 Percentages do not add up to 100 due to rounding errors.
All of the 69 respondents in the 1999 survey were asked questions about the Ethics Network and the following information was obtained:
It is somewhat perplexing that only about two-thirds of those surveyed had heard of the Network and only a little more than half received the newsletter. The Ethics Network News is sent to the Director of Social Service, the Director of Nursing, and the Administrator at every long-term care facility in New York City. Is the newsletter not being read or circulated? Please help by circulating your copy of the newsletter to your staff and other interested parties. Thank you.
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