Advanced Bioethics: Clinical Observation

Catalog description

This course is a one credit class intended to supplement BETH 371 : Advanced Bioethics. In this course students will become familiar with the clinical, psychological, social, professional, and institutional context in which bioethical problems arise. Students are exposed to clinical cases as they arise, to hospital ethics committees and ethics consultation programs, to institutional review boards (IRB), and to hospital policies covering "do not resuscitate" orders (DNR), advance directives, withdrawal of artificial feeding, and medical futility. The clinical rotation will consist of 20 hours of supervised observation where students attend structured clinical activities such as ICU rounds, case conferences as well as shadow clinicians that work with the Department of Bioethics and are used to having students at various levels of observers. The purpose of the clinical rotation will be to give students first hand observational experience in the health care system and how the key bioethical issues discussed in BETH 371 manifest in the clinical setting. The primary locations for this course are MetroHealth Medical Center and Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. Prereq: BETH 271 or PHIL 271 . Coreq: BETH 371 or PHIL 371 .