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From “What” to “How”: Experiential Learning in a Graduate Medicine for Ethicists Course

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2022

Jason D. Keune*
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri63110, USA
Erica Salter
Affiliation:
Center for Health Care Ethics, Salus Center, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri63104, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: jason.keune@health.slu.edu

Abstract

Teaching healthcare ethics at the doctoral level presents a particular challenge. Ethics is often taught to medical students, but rarely is medicine taught to graduate students in health care ethics. In this paper, Medicine for Ethicists [MfE] — a course taught both didactically and experientially — is described. Eight former MfE students were independently interviewed in a semi-structured, open-ended format regarding their experience in the experiential component of the course. Themes included concrete elements about the course, elements related to the broader PhD student learning experience, and themes related to the students’ past and future career experiences. Findings are related to the educational philosophy of John Dewey and David Kolb’s experiential learning theory. Broader implications of this work are explored.

Type
Departments and Columns
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

Notes

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