PhD in Nursing Ethics Course Descriptions

Ethics Courses

The PhD course descriptions as well as the number of credits per course are included in the PhD in Nursing section. Below you fill find the courses specific to the PhD in Nursing Ethics program.

This course follows a seminar format which after an introductory session devotes most of class time to presentations by students, group discussion and development of the research essay. Through teacher instruction, their own creative research and the critical input of other students the students become aware of the particular challenges which contemporary multicultural society poses to healthcare ethics. The students learn to identify these challenges in a clinical context, and in the field of normative healthcare ethics. Particular attention is paid to health disparities and the difficulties related to the development of normative ethical arguments in a multicultural context. The students learn to develop strategies to overcome these challenges.

HCE 643 Ethics of Care - 3 credits

This course follows a seminar format which after an introductory session devotes most of class time to presentations by students, group discussion and development of the research essay. Through their own research and the critical input of other students the students become aware of the importance of Ethics of Care to bioethics; they become familiar with the complementarity of Personalism and Ethics of Care; and they learn to apply a Care Ethics approach to bioethical issues.

HCE 648 Clinical Ethics - 3 credits

This course follows a seminar format in which the students will be specifically trained in case analysis, scientific presentation and reporting in the field of clinical ethics. The course consists of three parts. In the first part, we undertake a general exploration of the aims of clinical ethics and the place of clinical ethics consultations therein. In the second part, we look at approaches to ethical analysis in case consultation. The students gain insight into the merits of these approaches and learn to apply them to clinical cases. In the third part, we focus on an issue that is central in clinical ethics: decision making. We study the standard of informed consent, and decision making for mentally incapacitated patients and patients who are unable to communicate.

HCE 659 Methods in Health Care Ethics - 3 credits

This course provides a foundational introduction to HCE and to other doctoral degree courses in the healthcare ethics curriculum. The course presents an analysis of dominant methods in healthcare ethics from historical, systematic, and religious perspectives. Practical issues are engaged to illustrate methodological issues.