Why Work at Children's....

Here, it’s different. Come join us.

Children's Hospital Colorado has defined and delivered pediatric healthcare excellence for more than 100 years.

Here, the nation’s brightest nurses, physicians, scientists, researchers, therapists, and care providers are creating the future of child health. With an optimist’s outlook, a trailblazing spirit, and a celebrated history, we’re making new strides every day.

We’ve been Magnet-designated four times by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and are consistently recognized among the best of the best pediatric hospitals with #1 rankings in Colorado and the region by U.S. News & World Report.

As a national leader in pediatric care, we serve children and families from all over the nation. Our System of Care includes four pediatric hospitals, 11 specialty care centers, 1,300+ outreach clinics and more than 10,000 healthcare professionals representing the full spectrum of pediatric care specialties.

Here, we know it takes all of us, every role, to deliver the best possible care to each child and family we treat.

That’s why we build our teams toward a foundation of equity in access, advancement, and opportunity. We know teams of individuals with different identities and backgrounds can nurture creativity and innovation. We know we can see, treat, and heal children better when our team reflects the diversity of our patient population. We strive to attract and retain diverse talent because we know a truly inclusive and equitable workforce will help us one day realize our most basic calling: to heal every child who comes through our doors.

A career at Children's Colorado will challenge you, inspire you, and motivate you to make a difference in the life of a child. Here, it’s different.

Job Overview

The Clinical Ethics Program Manager provides leadership, strategy, vision, and service throughout the Children’s Colorado system to enhance, promote, and sustain an organizational culture committed to ethical practice and mutual respect among caregivers. This role is responsible for providing formal and informal ethics consultations; leading the ethics consultation service; organizing and leading clinical ethics rounds; collaborating with clinical teams, patients, and families to address ethical issues in pediatric healthcare.  Engages in research to advance the field of bioethics and to serve the needs of the hospital; develops and implements assessment and evaluation instruments to test efficacy of ethics program interventions and services; disseminates results in internal reports and journal publications. Serves as a facilitator for change directed toward strengthening the hospital staff’s sense of moral community; contributes to the literature in the field of bioethics through academic research and publication; and remains current with the fields of bioethics, health law and philosophy. 

Additional Information

Department Name: Nursing Administration
Job Status: full time, 40 hours per week, eligible for benefits
Shift: Generally Monday - Friday normal business hours.  There will be on-call responsibilities for nights, weekends, holidays - details to be discussed during interview process.

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Responsibilities

POPULATION SPECIFIC CARE

• No Direct Patient Care

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

An employee in this position may be called upon to do any or all of the following essential functions. These examples do not include all of the functions which the employee may be expected to perform.

• Designs and integrates infrastructure and programming to support a culture of ethical practice; develops framework to promote an organizational culture in which individual and collective moral agency, integrity, and ethical competence are cultivated. 
• Leads key initiatives including moral distress rounds and ethics liaison program; collaborates with clinical ethics faculty of the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities to develop and deliver new programs which cultivate ethical competence and promote a positive organizational culture.
• Co-Chairs the hospital ethics committee.  Oversees all aspects of committee work throughout the hospital; leads and maintains a 24/7 on call ethics consultation service; monitors and reports on evaluation of ethics consultation quality and associated process improvement; provides ongoing training and education to ethics consultation team.  Represents ethics on multiple house wide work groups and initiatives. 
• Cultivates ethics program growth commensurate with organizational growth in strategic alignment with clinical and administrative aims; collaborates actively with colleagues from the bedside to the board room on ethical issues, and partners in championing excellence in pediatric care. 
• Serves as an expert ethics resource to staff and families, providing consultation and recommendations.
• Develops, implements, and evaluates pediatric ethics education, including grand rounds, annual pediatric ethics conference, unit-based forums/moral distress rounds; designs and presents online modules for CU Masters in Palliative Care Program, develops in-services on specific ethical issues or policies for hospital and medical staff, trainees, students, professionals, and community at large; develops and implements customized symposia for units and service lines throughout the organization which may result in development of white papers and organizational policy, guidelines or new operating standards related to ethical issues. 
• Serves as clinical faculty in pediatric ethics at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities; serves as clinical faculty for CU School of Medicine; represents CHCO locally, regionally and nationally through dissemination of theoretical and practical interventions in pediatric ethics, including visiting professorships, professional association podium presentations, chairs or co-chairs national ethics conferences; precepts masters and PhD candidates in healthcare, organizational and pediatric ethics, public health, and hospital administration/leadership programs. 

Other Information

SCOPE & LEVEL

• Guidelines: Advanced full performance professional level work that requires additional knowledge, education, training or experience. Guidelines are generally in the form of stated objectives only with issues and factors largely undefined requiring the employee to exercise creativity and ingenuity in devising criteria, techniques, strategy, and methodologies for approaching assigned functions or projects.
• Complexity: Duties performed involve concepts, theories, and concrete factors to be evaluated and weighed requiring a high degree of analytical ability, independent judgment, and decision-making. Acts as a subject matter expert in the field of expertise.
• Decision Making: Exercises judgment and discretion, and is responsible for determining the time, place and sequence of the work performed.
• Communications: Contacts with team members, clients or the public where some degree of discretion and judgment are required in carrying out a major program and/or function of the organization.
• Supervision Received: Performs work with minimal supervisory oversight. Work assignment is generally unstructured and employee is responsible for organizing complex, varied, and simultaneous coordination of several functions, programs, or projects in various stages of completion.

Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Nursing or healthcare related field. Master’s degree in bioethics, ethics or philosophy, or formal fellowship in Bioethics.

Experience: Five (5) years in clinical bioethics, preferably in a pediatric hospital or healthcare delivery system.  Prior experience with moral distress debriefing strongly preferred.  Experience in performing pediatric ethics consults preferred.  

Certification(s): 

• BLS for Healthcare Providers/CPR
• ANCC recognized certification in clinical specialty.
• Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified (HEC-C) within one (1) year of hire.   

Licensure(s):  Based on area of expertise (RN license if RN, for example)

About Children's Hospital Colorado

At Children’s Hospital Colorado, the clinical ethics team is committed to ensuring that every decision surrounding patient care reflects the highest standards of compassion, respect, and integrity. The program brings together an interdisciplinary team of ethicists, healthcare providers, and support staff to offer ethics consultations, moral distress rounds, policy guidance, and educational resources to both families and professionals. By working collaboratively with patients, families, and the larger hospital community, clinical ethics at Children’s Hospital Colorado promotes shared decision-making, advocates for patient-centered care, and fosters a culture of empathy and responsibility across all aspects of pediatric healthcare.

Connections working at Children's Hospital Colorado