This module will provide students with the opportunity to explore and understand ethical problems and theories, to enhance their ethical reasoning skills and to develop a series of research skills and professional behaviours in the fields of clinical ethics and in ethical decision-making processes.
This module is designed to help students to comprehend different perspectives: the ethical decisions for healthcare staff; patients’ perspectives on ‘ethical care’ and patients’ moral commitments to their immediate environments (families, other chains of care); institutional levels of care and the ethics of resource allocation; duty of care towards the research subjects; as well as ethical suggestions and contributions towards improving present health care practices.
There are two linked assessments: a 15 min. presentation 30%. (about a relevant regulation/policy/law and the underpinning ethical principles) and a case study report (a case from a national or international healthcare practice, critically reviewed from an ethical perspective) (3000 words).
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.
This module is designed primarily 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) but it is also accessible for students with interest in medical ethics.