Ethics been very good to us

This commentary asks whether ongoing efforts to accredit, certify, and credential hospital ethics consultants are nothing other than an illegal restraint on trade masquerading as an effort to protect the public from harm.     

Cultivating ethics consultation: commentary on "The development of a clinical ethics consultation service in a community hospital

Conclusion: Simpson's article [in this issue, p. 124-130] provides us with needed data about the development and utilization of an ethics consultation service in a community hospital. It makes clear, however, how much further we have to go in developing guiding standards for practitioners and institutions. We need to learn much more about the effectiveness of ethics consultation in meeting well-defined goals and producing desired processes and outcomes before standards for credentials and accountability have a sound empirical basis.     

A comment on Fry's "The role of caring in a theory of nursing ethics

Our response to Sara Fry's paper focuses on the difficulty of understanding her insistence on the fundamental character of caring in a theory of nursing ethics. We discuss a number of problems her text throws in the way of making sense of this idea, and outline our own proposal for how caring's role may be reasonably understood: not as an alternative object of value, competing with autonomy or patient good, but rather as an alternative way of responding toward that which is of value.     

Credentialing and certification in ethics consultation: lessons from palliative care

In response to an article by Acres and colleagues, "Credentialing the Clinical Ethics Consultant: An Academic Medical Center Affirms Professionalism and Practice:" the authors urge continued action for the credentialing and certification of clinical ethics consultants. They also promote a vigorous and engaged model for ethics consultation.     

"Markov at the bat": a model of cognitive processing in baseball batters

Anecdotal evidence from players and coaches indicates that cognitive processing (e.g., expectations about the upcoming pitch) plays an important role in successful baseball batting, yet this aspect of hitting has not been investigated in detail. The present study provides experimental evidence that prior expectations significantly influence the timing of a baseball swing. A two–state Markov model was used to predict the effects of pitch sequence and pitch count on batting performance. The model is a hitting strategy of switching between expectancy states using a simple set of transition rules. In a simulated batting experiment, the model provided a good fit to the hitting performance of 6 experienced college baseball players, and the estimated model parameters were highly correlated with playing level.     

Response to Beshai's "Quantitative and qualitative research in hypnosis: comment on Woodard"

This paper clears up some misunderstandings of Woodard's Phenomenological and Perceptual Research Methodology presented by Beshai in a recent critique. Beshai's critique helps demonstrate and validate a number of themes in Woodard's Perceptually Oriented Hypnosis. First, for each of us, our historical learnings provide the basis for scientific progress but at the same time may impede new views and even a more comprehensive understanding of hypnosis. Second, hypnosis is fundamentally a process of differentiating personal meanings that can be vastly different for various individuals. Third, Beshai uses a quantitatively based approach to understanding phenomenon different from Woodard's qualitative research process. Last, holistic understanding of hypnosis is impeded when aspects of the phenomenal field are taken quantitatively out of context.