The Bioethics Education program aims to promote a culture of ethically informed clinical decision-making and high ethical standards of clinical practice through a range of activities including:
- Professional development for hospital staff through an existing program of bioethics seminars, departmental meetings and grand rounds
- Formal education through the development of an ethics component for existing education programs for junior medical staff, nursing and allied health staff
- Input into bioethics, public health and other relevant subjects and programs at the University of Melbourne and in relevant Colleges and institutions
Departmental Education
Ethics education sessions are available in person or using Zoom / Teams. We can fit in with your regular department meeting dates.
To make enquiries, please contact Clinical Ethicist
georgina.hall@rch.org.au or
book a session.
Bioethics Forum
The Bioethics Forum (formerly the CBC Journal Club) will host monthly ethics discussions and events to encourage and explore topics of interest to those involved in paediatric healthcare. The Bioethics Forum
will remain a relaxed and collegial get-together of individuals interested in
reading about, hearing about and discussing challenging and fascinating ethical
aspects of patient care.
We offer a mix of curated topics each month, for which we will provide a short list of journal articles and book
chapters to read and discuss, as well as some presentations from CBC interns
and those joining us on sabbaticals and overseas visitors (in the future!) on
topics of interest. You remain welcome to bring along your lunch or breakfast
to the meeting, and feel free to invite anybody who might be
interested in coming along. If you would like to join our Bioethics Forum mailing list, please contact: bioethics@rch.org.au
Upcoming Bioethics Forum dates in 2024:
July- Monday, 22nd July, 12.30- 1.30pm
August- Monday, 19th August, 12.30- 1.30pm
September- Attendance at 15th National
Paediatric Bioethics Conference 4-6th September
October- Wednesday, 23rd October, 8.30-
9.30am
November- Monday, 18th November, 12.30-
1.30pm
December- Monday, 16th December, 12.30-
1.30pm
Past Bioethics Forum topics:
Dr Sid Vemuri’s
PhD completion seminar: We could do more, but should we? Approaching decisions about
life-prolonging treatments for children with life-limiting conditions.
Journal article discussion: Moore,
B. (2023) The fraught notion of a ‘good death’ in pediatrics. The Journal of Medicine
and Philosophy. 48, 60-72.
Journal article discussion: Spriggs,
M. Children and bioethics: clarifying consent and assent in medical and
research settings, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 145, Issue 1,
March 2023, Pages 110–119,
ChatGPT and its implications for the healthcare sector: how it may
affect ethics discussions and promote or hinder shared decision-making with
patients and their families. Readings:
- Rahimzadeh,
Vasiliki, et al. "Ethics Education for Healthcare Professionals in the Era
of chatGPT and Other Large Language Models: Do We Still Need
It?." The American Journal of Bioethics (2023): 1-11.
- McDougall,
Rosalind J. "Computer knows best? The need for value-flexibility in
medical AI." Journal of medical ethics 45.3 (2019): 156-160. Monica Cooper: What's the difference if you're very small?
Committee Member Training
Annual ethics training workshops are run for members of the Clinical Ethics Response Group and Clinical Ethics Committee.
Ethics for Clinical Practice (ECP) Program, 2024
The Children’s Bioethics Centre offers an intensive three-day ethics program for hospital staff. The Ethics for Clinical Practice (ECP) Program is offered to nursing, allied health and medical staff. The course consists of 3 full study days over 6 weeks and participants must be able to attend all days. We run these courses thorughout hte year. For more information or to register your interest, contact Jenny O'Neill.
The aim of the program is to
increase clinician confidence and engagement in clinical ethics discussions and
decision making. Clinicians will be required to
use their professional development leave for these study days.
Topics covered include:
- Introduction
to clinical ethics
- The
role of the Children’s Bioethics Centre
- Using
frameworks for ethical decision making
- Zone of
Parental Discretion
- Deciding
with children
- Truth-telling
to children
- Moral
distress and moral regret
- Asking
ethical questions
- Advocacy
CBC Conference - Sharepoint link