Ethics in Health Services Organizations

Catalog description

This course is designed to examine the theories and frameworks that underlie the influence of values and ethics (personal, professional, organizational, and social) on leadership practices in healthcare organizations, and to challenge students to examine their own ethical assumptions. The primary emphasis of this course is on the values held by individuals and their impact on the administrative problem-solving processes. Values conflicts will be explored in the context of individual values clashes with the broader organizational and social values held by healthcare organizations. Students will be exposed to a broad range of theoretical literature on values and ethics, but the primary focus of this course is on the development of practical leadership knowledge and skill that will lead to more reflective, intelligent, and principled practices. The primary course goal is to provide students with the tools to be more effective when confronting issues that have ethical implications in their own organizations. Using case studies and interactive discussions, this course will examine the ethical decision-making process and confront the ethical challenges that healthcare leaders will face.