What the HEC-C? An Analysis of the Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified Program: One Year in

The Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified Program: Fair, Feasible, and Defensible, But Neither Definitive Nor Finished

“…Certification allows HCECs to demonstrate a standardized level of achievement while supporting other efforts to professionalize the field. The Commission recognizes concerns about not overstating what the HEC-C designation signifies, and desires to increase the standardized level of achievement (Horner et al 2020;Jankowski et al 2020;Mabel 2020;Wasson 2020). The Commission will assess our marketing materials to assure a clear message and will continue to examine the skills assessed and the passing standard.…”

“…One of the domains is, broadly speaking, to evaluate and improve the quality of ethics-relevant policies, programmatic ethics education, and other offerings (HCEC Certification Commission 2019a). Although some have questioned the inclusion of this domain (Horner et al 2020), about 75% of all respondents to the workforce survey indicated that they performed all nine of this domain's tasks, and overall highly rated the importance of this work. The examination specifications blueprint afforded 13% of the total examination content to this domain (HCEC Certification Commission 2019a).…”

“…Certification has limitations. Certification does not assure expertise for any professional (Horner et al 2020;Hynds and Raho 2020;Scofield 2020). Certification is also insufficient to make hiring decisions.…”

“…Certification is also insufficient to make hiring decisions. Healthcare organizations, each with its own particular needs and specific job requirements, still need to assess whether a particular applicant has the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Cf., Horner et al 2020;Kon 2020). Certification status should be supplemented by other resources such as personal interviews and references (Crites and Horsburgh 2020;Mitchell and Teti 2020).…”

“…Certification status should be supplemented by other resources such as personal interviews and references (Crites and Horsburgh 2020;Mitchell and Teti 2020). Certification cannot assure that individuals do not practice above their skill level (Horner et al 2020). This is a matter of personal adherence to professional codes of ethics (in our case, the first statement of the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibilities for Healthcare Ethics Consultants-namely, "Be competent" (American Society for Bioethics and Humanities 2014)).…”