UNESCO Chair in Bioethics
at
The International Center for Health, Law and Ethics
The University of Haifa, Israel
Ethics Education in Medical Schools
The UNESCO Chair in Bioethics is engaged in preparing a completely modernized course of studies in ethics to be offered to the world's medical schools which will need either to introduce a considerable number of study hours specifically devoted to medical ethics into their syllabuses or to increase the number of hours which they already allocate to the subject.
Under the guidance of a Steering Committee, with the assistance of 130 members of the Chair's International Scientific Committee and sponsored by the members of its Network of (70) Universities, it was decided that
a series of training manuals should be compiled for use by the teachers of ethics at the medical schools. It is intended that each manual should contain actual cases, up to thirty in number, which have presented ethical problems to members of the medical profession all over the world. Groups of cases are to be preceded by a general description of the type of ethical problems involved and each case is followed by general guidelines for the edification of students who must themselves, under the guidance of their lecturer, study the case, discuss the possible solutions and reject what they consider unsuitable before reaching their own decision.
"Informed Consent", the first of these manuals, contains thirty cases supplied by doctors in nineteen countries. It has been circulated among members of the Scientific Committee who are almost all instructors in Bioethics. Copies of the manual are also dispatched, free of charge, to medical schools which are not represented by members of the Scientific Committee.
Initial reactions to the pioneer manual are positive. Dozens of colleges in different countries are re-arranging their syllabuses in order to use the manual and many of them have committed themselves to an increase of study hours devoted to ethics.
Work on additional companion manuals, each edited by an expert in a specific sphere of medicine, has already begun. The subjects are: Effective Communication in the Classroom (already published), Psychiatry (already published), Reproduction, Intensive care and Treatment of disabled patients.
The Chair initiated, organized and managed conferences, sessions, frontal lectures and discussions dealing with aspects of ethics, health and law. The Chair has encouraged and progressed relevant educational and research activities.
The Chair intends to conduct the following activities:
a. Publication of additional books.
b. Translation of the published books to additional languages.
c. Promotion of research in Health and Ethics.
d. Initiation planning and management of educational seminars on Health and Ethics.
e. Promotion and advancement of cooperation with academic institutions and professional organizations.
f. Consideration of the possibility of initiating similar activities for additional caring disciplines (e.g. nursing, geriatrics, social work).
Address
The UNESCO Chair in Bioethics,
At the :International Center for Health, Law and Ethics, University University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
P.O. Box : 6451; Postal Code: 31063, Haifa
Phone: 972 4 8240002
Fax: 972 4 8288195
LInks:
