Live online program: Summer Seminar in Healthcare Ethics

The Department of Bioethics & Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine invites you to the 36th Annual Summer Seminar in Healthcare Ethics!  Feel free to distribute this announcement widely.

Up to date information about the seminar, including continuing education information, can be found at 2024 Summer Seminar in Healthcare Ethics | UW Department of Bioethics & Humanities (washington.edu). 

Summer Seminar Course Description

The annual Summer Seminar is an intensive, interactive introduction to the 'four-box method' of analysis of ethical problems in clinical ethics, developed by Jonsen, Siegler, and Winslade in their book Clinical Ethics. The Seminar also addresses elements of the Core Competencies in Health Care Ethics Consultation and can help attendees prepare for the healthcare ethics consultation certification exam.

Lectures are designed to familiarize participants with basic definitions and arguments in major topics of clinical ethics. In addition, the Seminar aims to provide participants with skills and information sufficient to enable them to make competent ethical decisions in clinical situations and to assist others in doing so. Careful attention is paid to methods of case analysis and to discussion of cases. The Seminar has always attracted a mix of participants that resembles the actual participants in clinical care, making it possible to share different, but complementary views. The conference format will incorporate asynchronous content tailored to clinicians as well as a live online program, including multi-disciplinary small group discussions designed to allow participants to better understand the ethical debates that bear upon each topic.

Summer Seminar Conference Objectives

• Identify fundamental concepts and principles for the understanding of ethical issues in clinical care
• Implement a method for analyzing ethical cases in clinical health care
• Employ skills in decision-making for clinical cases that present ethical problems
• Discuss current issues and cases in healthcare ethics

Course Text: Clinical Ethics, 8th Edition: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine (or prior edition)