Bioethics and Spiritual Care: From the Classroom to the Clinic

Catalog description

What do we do when a patient is hoping for a miracle we know is unlikely to occur based on medical science? What death practices and beliefs might a patient and their family consider important as they approach the end of their lives? How do we honor the spirit--not just the body--of our patients? This course will offer various frameworks through which to begin approaching these questions. In this course, our focus will be on developing practical education and skills to approach complex bioethical situations with compassion, care, and competency. We will begin by focusing on basic approaches to spiritual care, the focus on some of the relevant specifics of the varied and diverse spiritual and religious practices we are likely to encounter amongst our patient populations, and finish by examining some specific bioethical issues with specific religious objections or complications.