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My Journey from Bench Scientist to Clinical Ethicist
Four and a half years ago I was introduced to the field of clinical ethics while nearing the end of my Doctorate in Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. After attending a talk given by Kerry Bowman, a clinical ethicist at one of the University teaching hospitals, I approached him with some additional questions. The ensuing discussion led to a productive working relationship. Initially, I helped him perform an ethics analysis of a complicated genomics project. He then invited me to participate in some of his other professional responsibilities, opening a door into a new profession. This foray into clinical ethics had a lasting effect; in short order I decided to retire my pipette and pursue a career in clinical ethics.
Read full story: http://thenode.biologists.com/my-journey-from-bench-scientist-to-clinical-ethicist/careers/
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Conversations about Challenging End-of-Life Cases: Ethics Debriefing in the Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Clinicians frequently encounter and grapple with complex ethical issues and perplexing moral dilemmas in critical care settings. Intensive care unit (ICU) clinicians often experience moral distress in situations in which the ethically right course of action is intuitively known, but cannot be acted on. Most challenging cases pertain to end-of-life issues. Researchers have shown that moral distress and moral residue are common among critical care nurses. It is, therefore, essential that all ICU clinicians (and nurses, in particular) have an ongoing opportunity to work safely through these ethical dilemmas and conflicts. In this article, we describe the medical surgical intensive care unit (MSICU) experience with its monthly ethics initiative and explore the next steps to enhance its use through maximizing attendance and value to MSICU clinicians.
Read the publication: http://www.pubfacts.com/detail/22279847/Conversations-about-challenging-end-of-life-cases-ethics-debriefing-in-the-medical-surgical-intensiv
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Making Ethical Choices: An Ethical Decision-Making Handbook for Health Care Practitioners & Administrators Second Edition
About the book:
Health care practice and administration is fraught with complex moral issues and dilemmas. Shifting paradigms in the health care system, such as limited resources, increased emphasis on patients’ rights, and moral diversity, have profound and far-reaching ramifications that impact us all – health care recipients and their families, health care professionals and administrators, and other stakeholders.
On the one hand, advances in medical technology have created renewed hope and exciting horizons in our quest for cures and treatments of illnesses that cause pain, suffering and, frequently, premature death. On the other hand, the development of new investigative and treatment techniques have added complex and baffling ethical questions to old moral quandaries in health care.
Generally, health care professionals and administrators conscientiously follow personal or interdisciplinary frameworks for making decisions. These processes are enmeshed with a wealth of professional and personal experiences. Yet, how often is the health care professional or administrator baffled by difficult and perplexing circumstances that possess a value foundation. Commonly asked questions include: Which of these difficult alternatives should I choose? What course of action is most appropriate in this situation, and who should so decide? Answers to questions such as these often have very far-reaching ramifications, and they may on some occasions determine whether a patient is treated fairly or, indeed, whether he lives or dies.
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The Ethical Challenges of Medicine Today
“The Ethical Challenges of Medicine Today: Drawing on the Wisdom of Vatican II”
Christine Jamieson participates in part five in a six-part series: A Church for the 21st Century: The Spirit of Vatican II in Our Time.
Watch the video: https://vimeo.com/70220588
