Incorporating an “ethics-focused component” into goals of care (GOC) oncology nursing training “is an effective strategy for increasing nurses’ utilization of clinical ethics consultation services,” according to results from a recent study.
Victoria McClosky, RN, BSN, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, conducted the study and presented the findings as an abstract during the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2026 Annual Conference.
Ms. McClosky explained that oncology nurses “frequently encounter ethically challenging situations” in their roles but underscored that many “may feel uncertain about accessing institutional ethical resources.”
In addition, Ms. McClosky highlighted that in 2023, “a large NCI-designated cancer center” launched a GOC training program that included an “embedded ethics-focused component designed to enhance nurses’ utilization of clinical ethics consultation services.”
To empower oncology nurses to utilize ethics-based resources at their institution and improve the nurses’ “understanding of ethics issues,” the GOC training program “incorporated case studies involving challenging ethics issues and dilemmas.” Ms. McClosky explained that her research analyzed whether the ethics-based component of the GOC program “increases nurses’ likelihood of consulting the clinical ethics consultation services.”
Before nurses participated in the GOC training program, Ms. McClosky identified that “ethics consults were primarily initiated by providers and unit leaders, with minimal reporting from nurses” at the NCI-designated institution. She explained that “anecdotal feedback” from the study suggested that “nurse utilization of the ethics line was underreported, despite their frequent exposure to ethically complex dilemmas.”
Nurses at the institution carried out 36 consultations from October 2023 to May 2024, “with nurses serving as the lead requestor in 23 cases.” According to the results, a 26.67% increase in “nurse-initiated consults” and a 58.53% increase in “unit span” were observed with implementation of the ethics component of the GOC training program.
Furthermore, nursing units at the institution with “higher completion rates of the GOC training program were associated with increased nurse-initiated consultations, suggesting a direct relationship between GOC training and utilization of ethics resources.”
In reflecting on the findings, Ms. McClosky explained that the results support “further expansion of the ethics-focused component of the GOC training program” and that future research could enhance clinical ethics knowledge among oncology nurses by evaluating “the most significant ethical issues and dilemmas encountered by nurses.”