The fellowship is driven by a competency-based education and assessment framework that the CCE has presented at the International Conference on Residency Education, the annual Canadian Bioethics Society conference, and the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities’ annual conference.
The Fellow’s progress through and completion of the fellowship will be assessed using a combination of event-driven real-time assessment, periodic formative assessments, and summative assessment, within a competency-based framework.
Completion requirements of the program include: ongoing educational modules on core topics in healthcare ethics and Canadian healthcare law; independent scholarly work in healthcare ethics theory or practice (including completion of a manuscript suitable for peer-reviewed publication and submission of an abstract to the Canadian Bioethics Society annual conference or an equivalent conference); at least three Ethics Grand Rounds presentations at Unity Health Toronto or partner hospitals; a specialized education series focused on complex ethical issues relevant to Catholic healthcare institutions; at least three simulation clinical ethics consultations (with simulation-patient actors); a summative one-year review; a record of supervisor-reviewed/evaluated independent clinical ethics consultations during the second year; and an assessment of readiness for practice at the end of the second year.
After a preliminary period focused primarily on immersive education and observation (typically 3-6 months), the Fellow will begin developing greater independence. It is a goal of the program for the Fellow to be providing independent clinical ethics consultation by the end of the first year.
Upon successful completion of a one-year review (at approximately the 12-month mark), a Fellow will transition to the Senior Fellow role for a second year, which is accompanied by an increase in compensation and responsibility.
The Fellow will spend two years learning from and contributing to the ethics programs at Unity Health Toronto, its contract partners, and the program’s academic and clinical partners (CAMH, Ontario Shores, SickKids, Sinai, and UHN). The Fellow will enhance their knowledge, skills, and competencies in the core areas of clinical, organizational and research ethics (ethics consultation, policy development, education, research review, and academic research). There is an emphasis on developing leadership capacity in these areas.