Ethel Mitty, Ed. D., R.N.

Affiliation: The John A. Hartford Foundation

Biography

Dr. Ethel Mitty is a senior consultant at the Stroud Center for the Study of Quality of Life at Columbia University, and research associate and adjunct clinical professor of nursing in the College of Nursing at New York University.  After 25 years as director of nursing in flagship long-term-care facilities, Dr. Mitty left administration, wrote a best seller on nursing leadership and management in nursing homes, and now teaches and does bioethics research at the College of Nursing.

Her research includes a study of the implementation of the Patient Self-Determination Act in hospitals and nursing homes, ethics committees in nursing homes, ascertaining the decisional capacity of nursing home residents to execute a health care proxy, understanding the process and substance of decision-making for hospitalization of nursing home residents, development and implementation of a decision-making model for same, end-of-life planning and palliative care in assisted living facilities, and cross-cultural issues in end-of-life decision-making.

Current projects include the delivery of targeted best practices to nursing homes in New York City, consulting on a study of burden and support needs of Chinese-American health care agents, and examination of quality of life in long-term care facilities.