Clinical ethics consultation for primary care physicians

Robert Bosch Foundation-Application No. 32.5.1364.0047.0/MA01

The aim of this project is to provide needs-based ethics counseling for outpatient care of sick people and people in need of care.

The Network for Outpatient Ethics Counseling Göttingen (NEG)

The Network for Outpatient Ethics Counseling Göttingen (NEG) was founded in the summer of 2015 by a group of committed volunteers. It introduced itself to the interested public on 29.09.2015. In the course of this event and the associated echo in the daily and specialist press, further interested persons joined the network. Currently, the network comprises about 35 volunteers from nursing, general medicine and other medical disciplines, pastoral care, medical ethics and many more.

The work of the NEG

The NEG offers outpatient ethics consultations, which can be conducted on-site in the home environment or nursing home, or at a neutral location as a case conference or telephone consultation. These consultations take place on a volunteer basis and are free of charge.
The NEG continues to provide regular facilitator training to its members for ongoing quality assurance of counseling. In addition to offering outpatient ethics counseling and continuing education, the network's additional mission is to develop guidelines for ethical conflicts in outpatient care.
You can find a podcast about the work of the NEG from Stadtradio Göttingen here.

Scientific support

First, family doctors, nurses and relatives were asked in a study whether and if so, which ethical conflicts they have experienced in connection with the care of elderly, often seriously ill people. The results of this survey were integrated into a basic training course on outpatient ethics counseling: Family physicians, outpatient nurses and members of other professional groups (pastoral care, pharmacy, etc.) were trained as ethics advisors in order to be able to conduct consultations professionally.
This project is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation.
The newly established outpatient ethics consultation of the NEG is being scientifically evaluated in the form of a quantitative recording of utilization, consultation occasions and forms.

In a further research project, the reasons for counseling will be examined with the help of qualitative methods.

Contact the NEG

By mail to neg@gwdg.de or by telephone via the Göttingen district office of the Medical Association at 0551 30702320.