Ethics, Humanism, and Professionalism

ETHICS, HUMANISM AND PROFESSIONALISM COURSE

The Ethics, Humanism, and Professionalism course is designed to give students an introduction to biomedical ethics, and to the responsibilities and expectations of the medical profession.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Goals:

  1. Enable students to develop a foundation of knowledge about ethical decisionmaking and the required skills to make ethical decisions that will arise in clinical practice.
  2. Develop an awareness of the patient as a person.
  3. Develop an awareness of oneself as a humanistic professional in relation to patients and within the healthcare system.
  4. Develop skills to become a competent practitioner with a professional duty to lifelong learning.

Objectives:

  1. Describe how the inclusion of biomedical ethical issues and an understanding of statute and case law enhance clinical decision-making.
  2. Demonstrate a command of basic ethical language.
  3. Demonstrate ability to articulate medical recommendations based on ethical and legal principles to patients and family members and solicit their concerns.
  4. Incorporate all aspects of a person (physical, social, psychological, spiritual) while discussing potential approaches to helping a patient.
  5. Discuss how bad news should be related to patients and their families.
  6. Formulate an apology to a patient in the event of making a mistake.
  7. Develop the ability to ask relevant and logical questions, using their existing knowledge, as it applies to selected patient care clinical problems.
  8. Develop learning issues appropriate to the limit of their knowledge as it applies to selected patient care cases.
  9. Describe advance directives.
  10. Explain how spirituality may affect patient care.
  11. Describe 2 examples of medical mistakes.
  12. Describe the process of informed consent.
  13. Describe ways that physicians can use to prevent burnout.
  14. Appreciate self-care as an integral aspect of professionalism.
  15. Understand the role of the physician to include service.

Goal: Excellence in Professionalism and Humanism

Objectives: At the end of the course, students should have achieved the following objectives.

  1. Be familiar with and adhere to the NJMS Honor Code.
  2. Maintain appropriate appearance and dress.
  3. Meet commitments in a timely manner.
  4. Function effectively in small group settings.
  5. Participate actively in small group discussions, engaging in appropriate discourse on controversial issues with others with differing opinions.
  6. Demonstrate a commitment to working together with classmates.
  7. Accept criticism and respond in a professional and thoughtful manner.
  8. Accept responsibility for errors and demonstrate an openness to change.
  9. Interact respectfully with all faculty and colleagues.
  10. Interact respectfully with individuals of diverse backgrounds.
  11. Identify personal values that may impact adversely on their ability to provide patient care.
  12. Maintain a respectful tone.
  13. Demonstrate empathy with faculty and colleagues.
  14. Demonstrate facility in using electronic databases and literature retrieval services.
  15. Present clear, well-thought out answers in problem-solving recitation sessions.

STRUCTURE OF COURSE:

  • This course is ten weeks in length and takes place Tuesdays from October - December. Small group sessions will run from 9am-12pm for most of the course. Lectures will be delivered either live or via podcast.
  • Students are assigned to a group of approximately 10 students with a facilitator, and work on various problem-based learning cases in that setting.
  • The textbook for this course is "Clinical Ethics" (6th Edition) by Albert R. Jonsen, Mark Siegler, and William J. Winslade.

SMALL GROUP SESSIONS

We believe that the students' work in small groups is the heart of their learning in Physician's Core. The advantage of small group learning is that it is "active" learning where students have to participate as opposed to a lecture, which is a "passive" learning experience because students merely sit and try to absorb what is being said. Learning to be effective in group interactions is an extremely important skill for the rest of medical training and career, as students will often find themselves working on a team or participating in hospital committees. Developing effective group interaction skills is part of the required communication skills competencies for medical school.

WRITTEN EXAMINATION

There will be one written examination given at the end of the course.