This module is designed for healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, health care managers, medical students, medical and pharmaceutical researchers, radiographers, health care educators, chaplains, medical volunteers, hospice personnel and social workers).
The overall goal of this module is to enhance students’ knowledge and understanding in the field of clinical ethics. It offers students an enhanced set of ethical skills and capacities that will facilitate their everyday practice and professionalism.
In order to accommodate different professional and personal needs, the programme has a flexible structure. There are three grouped full days of face-to-face teaching combining lectures and workshops encouraging to engage with ethicists and health professionals and to share their experiences and ethical dilemmas.
Weekly seminars will focus on the syllabus topics to help students consolidate knowledge and develop analytical skills.
Students will learn how critical reasoning can uncover the constitutive assumptions of clinical cases, the various perspectives of people involved, and thus lead to a better understanding of what is at stake. They will also appraise and analyse ethical decision-making in different life-stages (from reproductive choices to the end of life).
Case study workshops will be a feature of this programme both face to face (in the form of seminars) and online to allow free discussion in multi-disciplinary groups of clinical professionals.
Formative assessments will be developed online to allow students to measure their progress and to respond to feedback (e.g. online quiz).
Self-directed and case-based learning within their own professional practice will contribute to learning throughout the module.
The summative assessments for this module will combine critical appraisal (of clinical ethics cases, theories and problems) and critical reflection (on clinical examples):
The first part of the summative assessment (50%) will be a 3000 word written work consisting of a choice of 2 tasks from the following:
a) an ethical reflection on your chosen case (1500 words)
b) an annotated bibliography for your chosen topic (1500 words)
c) a reflexive diary/online blog (1500 words)
d) an ethics section designed for a grant application (1500 words)
The second part of the summative is a 3000 word case study report (coursework 50%). This is part of ‘authentic assessment’, mirroring a real-life report exercise.
Liverpool’s School of Medicine is ideally located for access to some of the UK’s leading specialist clinical units. Students will have the advantage of being taught by ethicists together with clinical experts in hospitals such as Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, The Palliative Care Institute Liverpool, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, and The Walton Centre, the UK’s only specialist hospital trust dedicated to neurological services.
Students also benefit from the expertise within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences research institutes teaching and research links with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and surrounding medical institutions.