Services

Intergenerational mediation helps older adults engage with their families and/or others (e.g. healthcare providers, estate lawyers, financial institutions, long term care facilities, retirement homes, etc.) to facilitate planning of personal, financial, and health care decisions. Evidence shows that people who can clearly communicate and develop financial, personal and health plans for their elder years, are less distressed and anxious when faced with a health crisis and are more satisfied with decisions made. ^1,2

Research also shows that communication and planning can reduce conflicts within families.³ Addressing issues early through mediation mitigates conflict and improves, preserves, or even restores relationships and ensures the older adult experiences an optimal quality of life.

References:

1. Detering KM, Hancock AD, Reade MC, Silvester W. The impact of advance care planning on end of life care in elderly patients: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2010: 340: c1345.

2. Romer AL, Hammes BJ. Communication, trust, and making choices: advance care planning four years on. J Palliat Med 2004;7:335-40.

3. Heyland DK, Barwich D, Pichora D, et al. Failure to engage hospitalized elderly patients and their families in advance care planning. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(9):778-87

• Ethics Program Development

  In the spirit of aligning the mission, vision, and values of each institution with organizational practice, support is provided in the identification of each organization’s unique ethics needs. Compassionate Consultant will then develop context specific integrated ethics programming and structures that meet these unique needs.

• Healthcare Accreditation Preparation

  Principle based care and decision-making is a common priority of accreditation. Accreditation bodies are interested in standardized clinical and organizational ethics frameworks to help guide clinical and organizational decision-making. The goal of Compassionate Consultant is to prepare the healthcare organization to meet the ethics standards of various accreditation bodies (e.g., Accreditation Canada).

• Organizational Ethics Support

  Working with leaders and their teams, there are several opportunities for an ethics service to support the organization’s mission, vision and values as well as the existing decision-making frameworks. These opportunities include: advising and assisting in the development or revision of ethics related policies; supporting and developing the ethics committee or other ethics supporting structures; and, advising best practices for ethics consultation services (i.e. documentation, tracking, and trending).

• Ethics Capacity Building and Education

  Interprofessional capacity building and ethics education play a central role in supporting a positive workplace environment for organizations. The following opportunities are available: provide core curriculum training in ethical awareness, imagination, and decision-making; provide education on topics of interest/relevance to the organization through in-services, debriefings, and grand rounds; support the preparation of educational and outreach materials (e.g., ethics services brochures); and, facilitate access to additional educational activities (e.g., University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics Seminar Series, Ethics Week presentations, etc.).