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Ethics consultations are often helpful in addressing the many difficult and complex situations that occur in clinical practice. To examine pediatricians' experiences with clinical ethics consultations, investigators reviewed survey data from a random sample of 659 members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, of whom 64% were general pediatricians and 36% were subspecialists. Most respondents (78%) claimed some training in ethics, predominantly through medical courses or conferences; those with fewer years in practice were more likely than older pediatricians to have received ethics training.
Results were as follows:
One third of respondents had no experience with clinical ethics consultation; 16% did not have access to it.
58% of the respond…