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OVERVIEW |
Joint Degree in Medicine and Bioethics Students enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine may
elect to earn the Master Degree in Bioethics in conjunction with their
medical degree. Graduates of the program receive the Medicinae
Doctor (MD) degree, the basic professional degree in medicine, and the Master
of Arts (MA) degree from Faculty of Arts and Sciences, with a concentration
in bioethics. The joint degree program has been established in recognition of
the extensive and increasing overlap between medicine and bioethics.
Physicians are increasingly aware that the practice of medicine often entails
balancing conflicting interests and making difficult decisions that involve
an appreciation of their ethical dimensions and cultural contexts. The
objective of this educational program is to provide the interdisciplinary
background in medicine and medical ethics to address those issues and
situations that require knowledge of and expertise in both. Graduates will be
academically prepared for professional roles as bioethicists
in healthcare institutions, in public policy working for government or
voluntary associations, or in the practice of medicine. This joint degree
program permits students to earn the two degrees in a shorter period of time
than if pursued separately. Students wishing to enter this program may apply
before matriculation in the For more information on this program (including an informative brochure), contact the Director of Admissions, Center for Bioethics and Health Law, 300 Medical Arts Building, 3708 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3405 (412/647-5700). For a downloadable Application Materials Checklist (PDF file), click here. Medical Humanities Area of Concentration In collaboration with the Center for Bioethics and Health Law, the Students work with a mentor to tailor the content of their AoC to fulfill their interests and to apply medical humanities perspectives within clinical contexts. The AoC is designed to allow students to continue to pursue interest in the humanities that they may miss from their college studies, and to help them become a part of a broader community of medical humanities scholars and practitioners both locally, in the School of Medicine and the University, and nationally through participation in the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. Requirements are designed to expose students to the breadth and depth of the medical humanities, to allow them to pursue their particular interests, and to help them become members of the local and national communities of those interested in the medical humanities. Students will:
Clinical Ethics Training Program The Clinical Ethics Training Program, established in 1987 with a grant from the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, integrates clinical training in bioethics into the third- and fourth-year curricula of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and into postgraduate training. The methods of instruction emphasize a case-oriented clinical approach, rounds, and case conferences, all supplemented by didactic teaching techniques. In the third year of medical school, the program integrates clinical ethics into the clerkships in medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and surgery. A month-long elective in clinical medical ethics is available for fourth-year medical students. 1. Ethical Issues in Clinical Practice This elective offers students an opportunity to explore several important ethical issues in clinical practice, including informed consent, competency, surrogate decision-making, advance directives, forgoing life-sustaining treatment, futility, physician assisted suicide, euthanasia, confidentiality, reproductive ethics, managed care, access and rationing. The elective has two components:
Whenever feasible, students will be given an opportunity to participate in ethics consultations by the CME Ethics Consultation Service at PUH, MUH, or CHP. Students may also have an opportunity to attend faculty seminars and meet with CME visiting professors. 2. Narrative, Literature, and the Experience of Illness This elective provides the senior medical student with a rare opportunity to experience and examine the culture and practice of medicine from the perspective of an outside observer. Through the use of various types of medical literature (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and essays) and through clinical experiences that are traditionally thought to lie outside of the physician's role, we will explore the perceptions that patients have of doctors and hospitals as well examine the culture of traditional biomedicine. Through experiencing, reflecting, discussing, and writing about how differently doctors and patients often view illness, disease, treatment, and death, we may gain greater insight into our own beliefs, biases, and potential strengths to provide healing. Anne Fadiman writes in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, "I have always felt that the action most worth watching is not at the center of things, but where the edges meet. I like shorelines, weather fronts, international borders. There are interesting frictions and incongruities in these places, and often if you stand at the point of tangency you can see both sides better than if you in the middle of either one. This is especially true, I think, when the apposition is cultural." It is the apposition of the culture of biomedicine and individual, personal experiences of illness that this course will help the student of medicine to examine more closely. Grades for the class will be determined by student attendance, participation and writing assignments. Students are asked to complete two types of writing assignments. The first assignment is a weekly essay based on an assigned topic. The essays are designed to provoke critical thought about the experience of illness and your own professional development. The essays should be at least two double-spaced type-written pages. They will be examined for mainly for content and do not have to be carefully edited or follow formal paper standards. |
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3708 |
Phone: (412)
647-5700 |
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