Preceptor: Catherine Constable, MD 
Contact: Jordan Reif, Jordan.Reif@NYULangone.org 
Telephone of contact: 212-263-2671

Prerequisites: None 

Who should enroll in this elective?

Students who are interested learning more about foundations of bioethics, ethics theory, and clinical ethics. This elective is compatible with students interested in any discipline. 

Clinical sites

Students will have shadowing opportunities and ethics exposure across multiple departments at NYU Langone Health. There will also be opportunities for students to observe at Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and Veterans Affairs (VA). 

Description

This is a 2-week elective to provide the student with an overview of the field of bioethics. As an introductory elective, students will gain a broad understanding of the core principles, foundational knowledge, and essential skills relevant to the discipline.  

Students will be introduced to a breadth of clinical experiences, in both the inpatient and outpatient setting, and encounter a diverse range of cases intersecting with ethics. Students will also join ethics meetings at NYULH, Bellevue, and the VA to appreciate how approaches differ between health systems. The elective will intersect with all major specialties including internal medicine, palliative care, pediatrics, family medicine, critical care, obstetrics and gynecology, and surgery. The elective will also include conversations related to health equity, law, institutional policy, research, and spiritual care. 

Objectives of the Elective

By the end of this elective, through daily contact with patients, faculty, and didactics, you will:

1. Gain a deeper understanding of the field of bioethics, building on your pre-clerkship and clerkship experiences, through a broad exposure to diseases in medicine, palliative care, ob/gyn, pediatrics, and psychiatry 
2. Gain insight into the interdisciplinary nature of ethics and how our clinicians interact with other medical disciplines to provide comprehensive patient care
3. Explore the option of integrating bioethics and clinical ethics into a clinician’s career 

Responsibilities of the Student While On Elective

By enrolling in this elective, you have agreed to:

1. Participate in at least 35 contact hours of education each week
2. Provide communication of any excused absences to the Office of Student Affairs (excused absence form) and to the elective coordinator, in a timely fashion 
3. Arrive in a timely fashion to all locations to which you are assigned  
4. Attend all didactics provided for trainees, as outlined below

Key Responsibilities of the preceptor/residents/faculty while you are on Elective

By accepting your enrollment in this introductory elective, the preceptor agreed to:

1. Clearly communicate their expectations of you
2. Maintain a supportive clinical learning environment 
3. Ensure you have access to a broad case mix and clinical experience  
4. Provide the education necessary for you to gain an understanding of the patients 

Weekly Schedule

Monday-Friday from 9AM-4PM with 1 hour for lunch

Week 1

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Morning	Elective overview Decision-making	Principalism + alternative frameworks Narrative medicine	Legal policy Treatment over objection	NYULH ethics committee Post-committee discussion	Institutional ethics and policy Complicity of medical institutions
Afternoon	Palliative care and end-of-life ethics Advance directive workshop	Simulated family meeting Moral distress Clinical shadowing #1	NYULH ethics consult meeting Brain death Case discussions, rotating who leads	Students pitch their topics Independent research time	Incarceration and correctional healthcare Independent research time

Week 2

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Morning	Student presentations + discussion	Ob/Gyn	Spiritual care	Organ transplantation AI in clinical practice	Public health ethics + Vaccines
Afternoon	Student presentations + discussion Clinical shadowing #2	Pediatrics NICU Applying alternative frameworks	Ethics consult meeting Research ethics Ethics of unproven interventions	Surgery Gender-affirming care	Final research paper presentation Reflection + feedback

Method of Assessment 

The elective will include four main components: 

• Didactics: Attendance on Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm with an hour for lunch for two consecutive weeks
• Clinical Shadowing: Students will be expected to set up 2 shadowing shifts with either members of the ethics committee or other sites with high frequency of ethics considerations, we will provide a list of contacts
• Reflection on Shadowing: Submit 1-page reflection (500 words) about an ethics issue discussed or observed during each shadowing experience
• Research project: An independent ethics project that will include (1) drafting a research question, (2) preliminary presentation, (3) final paper, and (4) final presentation. Students will receive feedback from their peers and the preceptor at each stage of the process. 

There may be additional smaller assignments related to reflecting on the day’s didactics or preparing for the subsequent day. These assignments may include, but are not limited to: 

• Readings ahead of discussions and hospital ethics committee meetings
• Leading case discussions
• Completing/updating your personal advance directive 

Scheduling information 

Duration: 2 Weeks 
Months Offered: Twice per year
Student point of contact before start of elective: Jordan Reif
On day 1, students report to: Catherine Constable MD in Kimmel 10-301
Students per elective block: 10