Healthcare Ethics

Certificate Program Goals

The certificate will enhance competencies for ethics services across healthcare organizations, including Ethics Committees, Ethics Consultations, Education and Policy needs in ethics. The Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Ethics encourages the integration of ethics across the health care organization fostering culturally competent patient-centered care.

The entire program Certificate may be completed in person or from a distance. Graduate instructors at the center for Global Health Ethics both record and livestream all of their lectures. The Center uses Zoom for students who cannot attend classes in person.  In this way, they can participate in class from a distance. Students who are unable to participate in class, either in person or from a distance, can watch the class recording at a time that is convenient to them.

The certificate must be completed over a period of a maximum of four years, thus offering students time and flexibility to complete the certificate at their own pace. All credits earned towards the Graduate Certificate may roll over into the MA, PhD or DHCE in Healthcare Ethics.  An example would be a student continuing on into the MA, after completing the certificate, will need to complete only 5 additional courses (15 credits).

 

Program Information

This flexible graduate certificate enhances ethics service competencies for work in healthcare organizations and beyond. Choose from in-person, hybrid, or online formats to suit your needs.

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Required Credit Hours

15

Program Requirements

The Graduate Certificate adopts the following Course Planner to enable students to track their coursework. All courses are 3-credit hours. All course selections must be approved by approved by the student’s academic advisor. There are no required courses or a recommended sequence. Students must complete 5 courses for the Graduate Certificate.

  • HCE 643/743 - End of Life Care Ethics
  • HCE 645/745 - Comparative Religious Bioethics
  • HCE 648/748 - Clinical Ethics
  • HCE 649/749 - Empirical Methods in Healthcare Ethics
  • HCE 650/750 - Beginning of Life Ethics
  • HCE 653/753 - Genetics & Ethics
  • HCE 654/754 - Research Ethics
  • HCE 655/755 - Global Bioethics
  • HCE 658/758 - Intensive Research in Healthcare Ethics
  • HCE 659/759 - Normative Methods in Healthcare Ethics
  • HCE 660/760 - Research Writing in Healthcare Ethics
  • HCE 662/762 - Organizational Healthcare Ethics

Application Requirements

A online application must be completed.  You can find the online application under graduate admissions.

If you are in the process of completing a degree, you may submit an up-to-date unofficial transcript with your application, followed by a final, official transcript upon enrollment as a Duquesne University graduate student. All other transcripts should be either emailed or mailed from the institution.  If mailing, use the following address:

Duquesne University
McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts
600 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15282

If your undergraduate and/or graduate degrees are from an institution located outside of the United States, you must use a transcript credential evaluation service to obtain a course-by-course report. The official reports must be sent directly to Duquesne University from the organization you order through and will qualify as official transcripts.

At least three confidential letters of recommendation must be submitted by those in a position to assess the applicant's past performance and future academic potential. Please use the graduate application portal to generate online requests for confidential letters of recommendation. Recommenders will receive instructions by email for uploading their letters directly to the Duquesne system.

Describe in a few paragraphs why you are a good candidate for the program to which you are applying.

For the writing sample, the admission committee expects a text, written by the applicant, that shows that he or she is able to develop and present a coherent academic argument with good literature integration. Manuscripts written by more than one author are not acceptable. There is no page requirement for the writing sample, but a good sample will normally be at least five pages in order to give the admission committee the opportunity to assess the applicant's research and writing skills. The writing sample need not be new. Ideally, the writing sample is in the area of healthcare ethics or bioethics, but that is not necessary.
Upload a recent version of your CV.
This applies only to international students. Scores should be sent electronically through the application portal.