Evidence-Based Medical Ethics: Cases for Practice-Based Learning

In the modern practice of medicine, new challenges complicate the ethical care of patients. Today’s times require a contemporary take on the concept of medical ethics. Regrettably, there are few books and learning tools available to bring medical ethics education into the 21st Century. Existing texts are not practical or user-friendly.

This book aims to address what has been missing in existing text books and ethics courses to date: clear-cut ethical and legal guidelines essential to the everyday practice of medicine, modernization of the teaching material to include common dilemmas seen in medicine today, connection between ethical practice and current evidence-based medicine, correlation of ethics teaching with education in cultural competence, and a user-friendly, innovative, and interesting format. Together, the authors have already collaborated for the last few years to collect numerous "typical" examples of ethically complex cases. Similar real-life scenarios are seen at all medical institutions across the country, and practitioners need a teaching tool to help them approach such cases.

In this textbook, the reader will find: (1) Twenty-five "typical" patient scenarios are presented and supplemented with questions for consideration by the reader or class, (2) Evidence-based medicine, legal precedent, and ethical theory applying to each patient scenario is discussed, (3) Ethical dilemmas are enlivened with age, gender, and culture issues, (4) A patient-centered approach to ethical dilemmas is presented, (5) Emphasis is made on the six "core clinical competencies" of medical education in the ‘Formulation’ section of each individual case (patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal skills and communication, professionalism, and systems-based practice), (6) The text includes a "medical boards"-style comprehensive exam to further challenge the reader and to assess their gained skills and knowledge.

This book is written with several audiences in mind: medical students and residents, nursing students, pharmacy students, undergraduate and graduate students in medical ethics courses, and physicians desiring further training in medical ethics, cultural competency, communication skills, and medical board preparation.