The results of a study conducted by alum Elaine C. Meyer, PhD, RN, MBE are now available in a new article, “Everyday Clinical Ethics: Essential Skills and Educational Case Scenarios,” courtesy of the Springer Nature Content Sharing Initiative. Twenty-five bioethicists from the Clinical Ethics Consortium hosted by Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics were interviewed about the essential skills necessary to practice everyday clinical ethics. The study results offer a blueprint for educational curricula to promote proficiency amongst bedside clinicians in this often-neglected area of clinical practice.

The interviews centered on two questions: 1) What are the essential skills required for everyday clinical ethics? and 2) What are potential educational case scenarios to illustrate and teach everyday clinical ethics? Five categories of general skills were identified: Awareness of Core Values and Self-Reflective Capacity, Perspective-Taking and Empathic Presence, Communication and Relational Skills, Cultural Humility and Respect, and Organizational Understanding and Know-How. Additionally, three categories of ethics-specific skills were identified: Ethical Awareness, Ethical Knowledge and Literacy, and Ethical Analysis and Interaction. A range of educational case scenarios were identified for the purpose of building capacity and confidence to practice everyday clinical ethics.

The study was conducted in the context of Dr. Meyer's capstone experience when she was enrolled in the Master of Science in Bioethics program, class of 2020. Several of the co-authors are part of the Center for Bioethics community including its former executive directors Christine Mitchelle, RN, MS, MTS, HEC-C and Robert Truog, MD, MA, Jonathan Marron, MD, MPH, HEC-C and Kerri Kennedy, MA, BSN, RN, HEC-C of Boston Children's Hospital, Aimee Milliken, PhD, RN, HEC-C and Melissa K. Uveges, PhD, MAR, RN of Boston College and the Connell School of Nursing, and Stowe Teti, DBEc, MA, HEC-C of the Inova Fairfax Medical Campus. 

Since offering a coffee talk about everyday clinical ethics, interest has grown organically in everyday clinical ethics. Dr. Meyer and several members of the Center for Bioethics community have convened an Everyday Ethics Affinity Group via Zoom. There is discussion about collaborative research endeavors to describe everyday clinical ethics across a range of clinical settings, as well as interest in generating educational curricular resources to assist bioethicists in teaching clinicians about everyday clinical ethics. All are welcome to attend. Please contact Dr. Meyer at Elaine_Meyer@hms.harvard.edu for more information.