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 Canadian
Medical Association Journal
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Making the difficult leap from academic to clinical ethics
Organizers hope that a new program in Edmonton will help bridge the gap between academic and clinical ethics. The Royal Alexandra Hospital program offers ethicists a year-long lesson in ethical issues that arise at the bedside. "Many hospitals have hired ethicists with a very strong theoretical background, but you often have a strong sense that they have never had to deal with the practical issues at the bedside," Dr. Rick Johnston, who helped launch the program, says. The goal of the program, which is funded by the hospital's foundation, is to teach ethicists how hospitals actually work and the kinds of ethical challenges that staff face. Johnston, the clinical chief of adult intensive care, said ethicists provide valuable assistance. Without it hospital staff "always feel that they are flying by the seat of their pants." Gary Goldsand interrupted his doctoral studies at the University of Toronto to become the program's first participant last September. Despite a "sharp learning curve," he says the program is everything he hoped it would be. He says that being able to define his own role in clinical situations, such as in a dispute between a transplant surgeon and an intensive care physician, has been "an eye-opener." Goldsand divides his time between different hospital services and physician mentors, as well as teaching assignments and attending classes. Dr. Peter Singer, director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, welcomes the program. "There are relatively few people in Canada trained to do this, so this development is extremely important. Ethics has to add value by engaging the clinical and organizational problems of a hospital." — Heather Kent, Vancouver
Copyright 2001 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors |
