Goals, Objectives, & Outcome
Goals:
This 12-month track, a collaboration between Emory University School of Medicine and the Emory University Center for Ethics, will provide residents and fellows with foundational knowledge and skills to 1) prepare for in-depth contributions to healthcare system ethics committees and ethics consultation services and 2) utilize ethical thinking in clinical care, teaching and scholarship.
Learning Objectives:
- To acquire basic knowledge about ethical theories as a basis for action
- To identify ethical issues in clinical care and develop initial skills for addressing them, including experience with ethics infrastructure in healthcare systems
- To utilize ethics analytical skills to address an issue in your clinical specialty/department
Outcome:
Upon completion of the track, residents will be awarded a certificate of distinction in Ethics from Emory University School of Medicine.
Components:
- Core Curriculum
- Ethics Course - Participation in and engaged learning curriculum with 6 two-hour, monthly sessions over the Fall and early Winter.
- Healthcare Ethics Conference - Two-day Emory Healthcare Ethics conference in Spring, with interdisciplinary participants throughout the Southeast.
- Small Group implementation sessions - periodic, hour-long small group check-in sessions
- Experiential Learning
- Committee Membership
- Opportunities to participate in one of the Emory Healthcare or affiliated ethics committees
- Teaching Experience
- Participate in one or more teaching opportunities – e.g., ethics sessions for medical students in the participant’s specialty; ethics selective during medical school capstone; conference poster session
- Capstone Presentation or project
- Present an in-depth lecture by the participant on a topic of interest; or:
- Prepare an Ethics project for implementation in a clinical site
- IRB-reviewed clinical ethics research project; educational or quality improvement project
- Present an abstract of project/research at Emory Healthcare Ethics Conference subsequent year; possible poster presentation at professional specialty conference
- Mentorship
- Faculty mentors from the Emory Center for Ethics and the participant’s department
- Committee Membership
Session Topics:
Why Ethics?What makes a concern an ethical one? What are the language/principles of ethics and approaches/models for utilization in patient care? How to putting ethics into action? And exploration of your interests.
Ethics of residency training
Ethical issues in working across disciplines (within medicine and with nursing and other team members); moral distress
Informed Consent and Patient involvement in decision making
Is informed consent possible? We will explore what respect for autonomy really means, how you communicate risk, how decision making capacity is assessed
Patient care decisions in serious illness and near the end of life:
Advance care planning; communication about patient goals; do not resuscitate decision making; question of “futility”/medically ineffective treatment; the role of the family/surrogate
Ethics consultation, ethics committees, ethics resources:
How to initiate an ethics consult, role of the ethics committee; and new models for preventive ethics. Case discussions & resident-directed discussion of additional topics of interest.
Discussion of capstone project
& resident-directed discussion of additional topics of interest
** All Participants will also attend the Healthcare Ethics Consortium Conference, a 2 day conference scheduled for March (dates to be confirmed).
Application Process
- Submit a statement indicating your interest in ethics and the ethics track. Please include information about past training in ethics, as well as ethics scholarship or research experience, and your particular area(s) of ethics interest. The statement should confirm that the residency program director is in full support of participation and that you can commit to attending ALL curriculum sessions and the two-day conference. Please include full title, year in residency, your contact information and residency program director’s contact information. The statement should be a maximum of 2 pages.
- Have your residency director submit a brief letter of support indicating support for your participation and his/her understanding that you will attend all required curriculum sessions, including the two-day conference.
Each year, please submit your application to Kathy Kinlaw, MDiv no later than May 30 for consideration in the cohort starting in July.
2023 Cohort
Joseph Schertzer - Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, PGY 3
Maansi Malhotra - Pediatrics, PGY 2
Rahul Nayak - Hematology and Medical Oncology
Robin Rolader - Dermatology, PGY 4
Zach Barbara - Pediatrics (Critical Care), PGY 4
2021 Cohort
- Katie Weisshapel – Pediatrics/Medical Genetics, PGY 2
- Emelin Garcia Nieto – Pediatrics, PGY 3
- Emma Kofmehl – Internal Medicine, PGY 2
- Kathleen Metz – Emergency Medicine, PGY 2
- Cheryl Augenstein – Pulmonary and Critical Care, PGY 5
- Tyler Halle – Otolaryngology, PGY 5
2020 Cohort
- Chase Kwon, MD, Dermatology, PGY-3
- James Iwamoto, MD, Pediatrics, PGY-2
- Megan Ververis, MD, Pediatrics, PGY-2
- Juno Lee, MD, Otolaryngology, PGY-3
- Nitya Nair, MD, Neonatology, PGY-5
2019 Cohort
- Anna Kate Moen, MD, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellow, PGY-4
- Cristen Cain, MD, Anesthesiology PGY-2
- Claudia Ocampo, MD, Pediatrics PGY-1
- Shan Elahi, MD, Internal Medicine/Psychiatry PGY-3
2018 Cohort
- Ashley Miniet, MD, Pediatrics
- James Yoon, MD, Internal Medicine