Providence Center for Health Care Ethics offers a variety of programs for physicians, nurses, and other Providence employees. The Center's programs provide participants an opportunity to explore and examine the challenges in medical ethics.
Ethics Education Curriculum
The Ethics Center offers an education program that is comprehensive in scope, targeted to specific audiences and integrated with other education opportunities. These include:
Core Curriculum Program
The Core Curriculum Program is designed for physicians, nurses, and other Providence employees. Courses cover ethical principles and explore key topics encountered in clinical practice.
Ethics Core Curriculum I, open to all hospital staff and employees, provides the ethical infrastructure for all the Ethics Center’s ethics services. The first eight hours of this program, Ethics Core Curriculum I, are dedicated to learning how ethics is understood within Providence and integrated into practice, and to learning how ethics consultations are conducted and requested.
Ethics Core Curriculum II, an additional 16 hours, is more case-based with eight hours focusing on ethical issues related to consent and patient decision-making and professionalism, and an additional eight hours focusing on ethical issues at the end of life.
Core Curriculum III programs consist of 1.5 hour programs addressing topics of special interest or need. Core III programs are often made available to outside audiences via video-conference or pod casting. Past Core Curriculum III speakers include Rabbi Daniel Sinclair, “A Time to be Born and a Time to Die;” Mark Repenshek, Ph.D., “Disparities in Healthcare: Is Ethics Part of the Problem;” Daniel Sokol, Ph.D., “Should Doctors Always Tell the Truth to Patients;” Carol Taylor, R.N., Ph.D., When Families and Caregivers Disagree;” and Timothy Christie, Ph.D., “Creative and Controversial Ways to Manage Addiction: Learning from the Canadian Experience.”
Ethics Core Curriculum IV offers a four hour interactive curriculum for physicians on critical issues in managing patients with life-threatening illnesses at end of life from diverse cultures. The curriculum focuses on three key challenges in end of life care: disclosure of a serious diagnosis and prognosis, code status discussions and transition to hospice. Through video case studies, interactive exercises, didactic information and helpful resources, this curriculum helps participants to improve communication and reduce conflicts with patients and families from diverse backgrounds at end-of-life.
Grand Rounds
Internal Medicine/Family Practice Medical Grand Rounds are presented several times a year by center staff or guest speakers on ethics topics as part of ongoing physician education.
Noon Conferences
Noon Conference/Ethics Grand Rounds are held on a regular basis, providing case based education for internal medicine and family practice residents.
Ethics Committees
The Hospital Ethics Committees at each Providence facility are charged with ethics education, review of ethics policies, and ethics consultation. At some facilities, the Committee is assisted by an ethics consultation team.
Consultation Team Meetings
The Consultation Teams examine challenging cases in medical ethics and provide guidance to physicians, nurses, patients and their families.
Foundations
Providence Center for Health Care Ethics is supported in part by the generosity of our community. You can improve the lives of others by supporting the Providence Foundations.
