Table 4

Characteristics of ethics committees


General Hospital
Characteristics
Mean ± SD
Range

Total members
10.3 ± 4.9
4–27
External members
1.2 ± 1.4
0–8
Female members
1.3 ± 1.3
0–8
Discipline


Chief of staff
0.7 ± 0.04
0–1
Co-chief of staff
1.4 ± 0.9
0–4
Physician
4.1 ± 4.3
0–18
Nurse
1.2 ± 1.0
0–7
Co-medical staff
0.5 ± 0.9
0–5
Administrator
0.5 ± 1.0
0–4
Attorney/Consultant
0.4 ± 0.6
0–3
Philosopher/Ethicist
0.3 ± 0.6
0–4
Other
0.4 ± 0.9
0–6

Akabayashi et al. BMC Medical Ethics 2007 8:8   doi:10.1186/1472-6939-8-8