DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL ETHICS (MD) {MEDE}
Information about the Center for Bioethics and the Master's in Bioethics degree
offered by the School of Medicine is available at
http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. Courses are currently
offered under the subject code BIOE.
540. Mediation and Healthcare. (M) The contemporary healthcare system in which patients, families, institutions
and a multiplicity of caregivers interact over matters
of life and death with legal, ethical, emotional
and scientific complexities inherently gives rise
to a variety of disputes. Such disputes are frequently
highly charged and are often emergent in nature.
In recent years, mediation has grown exponentially
as a dispute resolution mechanism of choice. Not
surprisingly, the success of mediation and a wider
understanding of the process, has led to its application
in the realm of healthcare disputes with encouraging
results.
This course will initially provide an overview of classical mediation theory
and practice. Students will be introduced to negotiation
fundamentals critical to the practice of mediation.
Similarities and differences between mediation in
the healthcare field, as distinct from other contexts,
will be examined. All class members will participate
in mediation role-plays designed to simulate disputes
of the kind prevalent in healthcare landscape
550.Bioethics and Society. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses will deal with bioethical issues in popular culture addressed
from a social science perspective. Courses to be offered include: "Sociology of Bioethics," and "Media
and the Doctor-Patient Relationship."
551.Sociological Topics in Bioethics. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses provides a rigorous introduction to the use of sociological
methods and perspective to address bioethical topics and issues. Past courses have inclued the "Sociology
of Medicine," Medical Errors," and "Sociology of Jewish Bioethics."
552.Anthropological Topics in Bioethics. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses provides an introduction to the use of anthropological methods
and approaches to address bioethical issues. Courses might include cross-cultural studies of medicine and doctoring,
diversity and the culture of medicine, cross-cultural bioethics.
SM 553. Historical Topics in Bioethics. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses provides a historical perspective on the field of bioethics
and/or key issues or areas within the field. Courses that might be offered include the history of medicine and the history
of science.
554. Religious Topics in Bioethics. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses examine the role of spirituality in the field of bioethics.
Courses might be taught from a single religious perspective or provide an overview of many different perspectives.
Past courses have included "Spirituality and Bioethics."
560. Clinical Approaches to Bioethics. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses examines issues in bioethics from the perspective of the
practicing clinician, physician, nurse, or other health care professional. These courses will often use case studies or
clinical experience to analyze or understand contemporary problems in bioethics. An example of such a course is "Clinical
Dilemmas Through the Life Cycle."
570. Bioethics and Policy. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered,
please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses will look at bioethical topics from either a legal or public
policy perspective. Past courses have included: Ethics of Managed Care, Law, Medicine and Policy, and Legal Aspects
of Healthcare in America.
580. Research Ethics. (M) This class is intended to give students a broad overview of research ethics
and regulation. The students will come out of the
class with an understanding of the moral bases of
scientific ethics and the historical evolution of
biomedical research ethics. Students will be fully
conversant with the development, implementation,
and limitation of US human subjects regulation. The
course will include reading assignments and lectures
addressing the following topics: ethics and morality
in science, science in society; scientific integrity;
misconduct: from FFP to MIM; conflicts of interest;
collegiality, publication, and authorship; ethics
codes and regulation; research with human subjects;
historical review of human experimentation; human
subjects regulation (HHS, FDA), Institutional Review
Boards; informed consent, waivers, vulnerable populations,
privacy and the confidentiality of records; and research
on animals.
581. Clinical Research Ethics. Prerequisite(s): Prior course work or evidence of competency in epidemiology, statistics, and health measurement are essential. The purposes of this course are to examine the spectrum of bioethical issues
encountered in the conduct of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics research and demonstrate both conceptual and
empirical approaches to studying these issues.
The goal of medicine is to improve the health and well-being of persons, many
of whom are called patients. To achieve this goal,
medicine uses scientific methods to test the efficacy
of interventions. As important and essential as these
methods are, this goal health reveals medicine as
fundamentally an ethical enterprise and the clinical
trial as an instrument of social control. Hence,
while most physician scientists do not think of themselves
as engaging in bioethics research, their work has
inherent ethical elements.
The goal of this course is to help students identify ethical issues in the design
and conduct of clinical research, formulate ways
to think about and plan empirical and conceptual
investigations of these issues. The course examines
a set of core issues in the design, conduct and translation
of research results into practice. Course materials
include papers or book selections that address conceptual
and theoretical issues and empirical investigation
of issues.
As a result of taking this class, students will recognize the moral and ethical
aspects of their clinical research focus. This in
turn will expand their vision of the implications
and value of their research and the questions they
pursue.
590. Philosophical Topics in Bioethics. (M) This is a topics course - for information on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe. This set of courses provides a philosophical perspective on bioethical topics
and issues. This can include courses that integrate ethical theory with concern for particular applications of theory
or conceptual issues in medicine, health care, and the life sciences. Past courses have included Philosophy of Death and Dying,
Genetics and Ethics, Philosophy of Medicine, Pragmatic Bioethics, and Feminism and Bioethics.
SM 601. Proseminar: Introduction to Bioethics. (A) This course is intended to serve as a broad introduction to the field of bioethics.
The course will focus on three of the most important
areas in bioethics: Genetics & Reproduction,
Human Experimentation, and End-of-Life. Each module
of the course will cover essential bioethics concepts,
relevant legal cases, and classical readings of that
theme. Each module will include one guest lecture
from our distinguished bioethics faculty.
602. Conceptual Foundations in Bioethics. (B) This course examines the various theoretical approaches to bioethics and critically
assesses their underpinnings. Topics to be covered
include an examination of various versions of deontological
theories, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, principlism,
casuistry, feminist ethics, narrative theory, and
pragmatism.
604. (BIOE504) Empirical Methods in Bioethics. (M) This course provides an introduction to social science research design and methods
for students interested in conducting research on
issues in bioethics. The course is appropriate for
students who, rather than conducting research themselves,
will use research findings to make or challenge arguments
in policy statements or other writings. Emphasis
is placed on the logic of research design as the
way to relate topic of inquiry with method so that
evidence produced is pertinent and useful. Students
will design research projects and xplore a variety
of methods available to conduct research. Students
will also learn to integrate research ethics into
the formulation and design of their inquiries.
801. Introduction to Bioethics. Dr. Arthur L. Caplan. Prerequisite(s): This course is only open to dual degree
Master of Bioethics/Nurshing PhD students. Students
must have the permission from both the Department
of Medical Ethics and the School of Nursing to take
this course.
This course is intended to serve as a broad introduction to the field of bioethics.
The course will focus on three of the most important
areas in bioethics: Genetics & Reproduction,
Human Experimentation, and End-of-Life.
996. Research Topics. (C) This course is only open to students in the Master of Bioethics program. This course serves the final MBE project. This course requires students to work
with faculty to produce original research that is
of publishable quality. Past students have published
in Nature, Science, and other prominent journals.
999. Independent Study. (C) This course is only open to students in the Master of Bioethics program. |
