A/Prof. Rosalind McDougall1, Mr Jerry Luo1, Prof. Lynn Gillam1, Sharon Feldman1, Dr Carolyn Johnston1, Prof. Clare Delany1
1University Of Melbourne, , Australia
Biography:
A/Prof Rosalind McDougall is a bioethicist with expertise in the ethical challenges faced by health professionals. She is a teaching and research academic at the University of Melbourne, with appointments in the School of Population and Global Health and the Department of Surgery.
Abstract:
Medical students witness and experience ethical challenges during their clinical placements. Student Clinical Ethics Committees (SCECs) have been established in some universities globally, as an experiential learning initiative to support students to navigate and reflect on these challenges, developing skills of professional practice. In 2024, we piloted an SCEC as an enrichment opportunity for medical students at the University of Melbourne.
The staff involved in the project lead clinical ethics committees within hospitals, and aimed to replicate this experience for the medical students. Each meeting was an ethicist-led discussion of a de-identified case referred by an MD student, with case notes prepared by a volunteer notetaker. The training, referral process and model of ethics deliberation used in the SCEC reflect the real-world functioning of hospital clinical ethics committees.
The student response in the pilot year has far exceeded our expectations. A total of 78 students across all year levels and clinical schools submitted an expression of interest, with 70 going on to participate in an online training session. In order to include all enthusiastic students, we established three parallel committees each of which met online every two months.
This presentation will discuss the design and experience of the SCEC including governance, confidentiality, risk management and student learning outcomes.
In our view, an SCEC is an effective way of bringing the workplace into ethics teaching, enabling development of practical ethics skills. It builds a cohort of peers interested in ethics and, we hope, will contribute to nurturing future leaders in clinical ethics.