Medical ethics resource network of michigan: Development of a statewide ethics network

TY - JOUR

T1 - Medical ethics resource network of michigan

T2 - Development of a statewide ethics network

AU - Brody, Howard

AU - Weber, Leonard

AU - Fleck, Leonard

N1 - Funding Information: In October 1986, an organizational meeting was held at MSU, funded by a small planning grant from the Michigan Council for the Humanities. Approxi mately 20 individuals were invited. The criteria for invitation were as follows: Funding Information: Members of the MERN Board (which had been created out of the 20 individ uals invited for the planning meeting) initially approached the Michigan State Medical Society and the Michigan Hos pital Association for financial support. The Medical Society responded with a small contribution and, more importantly, provided the mechanism for MERN to conduct a survey of a number of hospital ethics committees that were known to the Medical Society. The Medical Society also allowed MERN to participate in a statewide meeting of physician members of ethics committees. The survey resulted in a needs assessment that clearly identified ethics committees as a constituency interested in MERN and in need of the services of a communications network. In particular, the development of educational materials for hospital ethics committee members was identified as a high priority, and a special task force was created to begin work on a series of modules to meet this need. Funding Information: Dues categories were created for indi vidual and institutional members. Indi vidual memberships were low, covering merely the cost of mailings and ser vices. Therefore, the organization hoped to derive most of its funding from institutional memberships, primarily hospitals. Unfortunately, the first year that MERN solicited dues-paying memberships from hospitals was also the first year that Michigan hospitals, on average, lost money. The difficult financial straits of hospitals slowed the membership drive considerably. Therefore, it was necessary for MERN operations to be heavily subsidized, first by the Michigan Health Council, and later by the MSU Center for Ethics and Humanities. Over time, MERN board members made presentations to hospital administrators and trustees and encouraged hospital ethics committees, whose members and chairs saw the value of the MERN organization, to lobby within their institutions for membership. Through these efforts, the membership began to grow. After approximately 4 years, MERN began to generate dues roughly comparable to the cost of maintaining the organization's central office, publishing its newsletter, and producing the educational modules series. In retrospect, it was probably to MERN's advantage that a major grant was not obtained at the inception. Being poor forced the MERN board to devote a great deal of energy to member recruitment, to look carefully at the needs of its member organizations and institutions, and to try hard to develop a "product line" that would meet the members' needs and attract additional membership. Because MERN Was obviously poverty stricken, many of the board members pitched in and offered significant portions of time and energy on a volunteer basis. Thus MERN became more active earlier at the "grass roots" level than might have been the case with major grant support.

PY - 1992

Y1 - 1992

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0026880390&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0026880390&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S0963180100000475

DO - 10.1017/S0963180100000475

M3 - Short survey

C2 - 11651299

AN - SCOPUS:0026880390

SN - 0963-1801

VL - 1

SP - 271

EP - 276

JO - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

JF - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

IS - 3

ER -