Ethics Consult Seminar offers hands-on experience...

Though life and death decisions are common in hospital settings it in no way diminishes the fact that each one is unique, difficult and personal. To ensure all parties understand one another and all options and solutions are examined an ethics consultation may be called.

In response to an increasing need for leaders in bioethics Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy offers an Ethics Consultations Seminar as part of the bioethics graduate programs. This seminar gives participants a hands-on experience practicing ethics consults.

“We have heard that people want to learn how to conduct an ethics consult, but there might be low volume at their hospital and shadowing does not allow them the chance to actively participate in a sufficient number to refine their skills. Using standardized patients and a simulated environment encourages students to practice interacting in a dynamic setting,” said Mark Kuczewski, PhD, director of the Neiswanger Institute.

Participants have diverse backgrounds that include medical students, lawyers, faculty, nurses and physicians from all over the country and around the world. Most are involved in Neiswanger’s Bioethics graduate programs. Divided into groups of four, participants are presented with four cases, allowing each participant an opportunity to take the lead in an ethics discussion.

Loyola faculty and employees act as standardized patients and doctors, play acting roles from actual cases. Two participants enter as ethics consultants while the others watch and listen to how the case unfolds from a screening room in another part of Stritch. When the mock consult ends all reconvene to discuss and evaluate the experience including the patient and doctor actors.

“It is really powerful to actually be practicing the skills you learn. The standardized patients are amazing and really make it feel like the real thing, only it’s nice to know that you aren’t hurting anyone. The feedback is vital and helps us to know what it’s like to be on an ethics consult team,” said participant Gregory Smith who is a lawyer and part-time bioethics faculty member at Regis University in Denver, Colo.

Each case is recorded and a DVD with all the participant’s cases is given to each individual.

“Participants are able to take the DVDs home with them and evaluate them on their own,” said Kuczewski. “By doing this they feel more confident and comfortable that they not only know a certain method, but have tried it out as well.”

Participants also feel bonded together and learn how critical it is to work as a team when dealing with such overwhelming issues.

“The simulation really captures the interpersonal dynamics. Participants put their whole selves into this and often come away emotionally drained, connecting to the people involved as they would in a real world consult,” said Kuczewski. “Through this seminar participants not only learn a skill, but the importance of ethics consults. They gain a new perspective and view of what is involved and what it takes to be a part of a consult team.”

Evelyn Polsley, Loyola Media. October 1, 2010.