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We’ve published articles on all sorts of champion programs developed for various hospital initiatives. Central to these creative models (which address problems in areas like pain, mobility, elder care, and skin care, for example) is enlisting nurses to become knowledgeable about a key subject so that each patient care unit can have its own readily available resource, or “champion.”

Ethics champions programs at three hospitals.

In our July issue, we present “Ethics Champion Programs” (free to access until August 1), which describes how three pediatric hospitals—Children’s Mercy Kansas City, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta—have implemented such programs to ensure that nurses have access to resources to address ethical issues. These resources include ethics rounds, monthly forums, education sessions, and unit-based and family consultations. While each program has unique components, the common goals of all three are to create a safe space for discussing ethical issues, to address moral distress, and to cultivate a climate of ethical practice.

To me, there seems to be no more important issue than ensuring ethical practice. As nurses, we face many instances in which we may question our interventions or find ourselves at odds with colleagues over treatment decisions, or in the midst of family angst over such decisions. These are critical issues, and those of us who encounter the kinds of situations that make us question our roles, keep us up at night, and eventually lead to burnout need timely access to support.

Structures to support moral agency in an ethical health care environment.

As the authors write, “It is within the structures of our health care environment that health care professionals act with moral agency. These structures can support and foster an ethical environment or they can constrain it.” Ethics champion programs can be that support.

For additional ethics content, see our special report, “State of the Science: Transforming Moral Distress into Moral Resilience in Nursing” (read it for free), as well as our collection of AJN’s ethics articles (some may require subscription).