Organizational ethics—defined as the alignment of an institution’s practices with its mission, vision, and values—is a growing field in health care not well characterized in empirical literature. To capture the scope and context of organizational ethics work in United States healthcare institutions, we conducted a nationwide convenience survey of ethicists regarding the scope of organizational ethics work, common challenges faced, and the organizational context in which this work is done. In this article, we report substantial variability in the structure of organizational ethics programs and the settings in which it is conducted. Notable findings included disagreement about the activities that comprise organizational ethics and a lack of common metrics used to assess organizational ethics activities. A frequently cited barrier to full engagement in these activities was poor institution-wide understanding about the role and function of organizational ethics resources. These data suggest a tension in the trajectory of organizational ethics’ professionalization: while some variability is appropriate to the field’s relative youth, inadequate attention to definitions of organizational ethics practice and metrics for success can impede discussions about appropriate institutional support, leadership context, and training for practitioners.

组织道德——定义为一个机构的实践与其使命、愿景和价值观的一致性——是医疗保健领域一个不断发展的领域，但在实证文献中尚未得到很好的描述。为了了解美国医疗机构组织道德工作的范围和背景，我们对伦理学家进行了一项全国范围的便利调查，内容涉及组织道德工作的范围、面临的常见挑战以及开展这项工作的组织背景。在本文中，我们报告了组织道德计划的结构及其实施环境的巨大差异。值得注意的发现包括对构成组织道德的活动存在分歧，以及缺乏用于评估组织道德活动的通用指标。充分参与这些活动的一个经常被提及的障碍是整个机构对组织道德资源的作用和功能缺乏了解。这些数据表明组织道德专业化轨迹中存在紧张局势：虽然该领域相对年轻，但存在一定的可变性，但对组织道德实践的定义和成功指标关注不够，可能会阻碍有关适当的机构支持、领导环境和培训的讨论对于从业者来说。