Ethics in Healthcare Seminar:|Experimental | Learning | Experience | Summary :
This seminar focused lectures around various ethical challenges that the healthcare system deals with on a regular basis. Students were taught step by step how to solve ethical dilemmas by using specific frameworks. Frameworks included: egoism, deontology, utilitarianism, and grounded theory, with these frameworks, students easily deciphered solving the dilemma. Learning and understanding the frameworks and how to solve ethical dilemmas in the beginning of the semester set the ground work for the rest of the semester. Personally this seminar was very helpful because some of the ethical challenges we were given are things that I would be experience in my future career, as a Registered Nurse. Examples of the situations include: euthanasia, death with dignity, funding for indigent care, and medicare/medicaid issues. This seminar presented an eye opening experience for not only me, but many of my peers. Most of the time you do not realize what certain situations you will have to deal with in your future, but this class helped to aid in our future decision making. One of our specific projects we worked on was an experimental learning experience. The project was a semester long opportunity to volunteer at a specific locations assisting organization with either tutoring, day-care services, activities, etc. We were each instructed to obtain 10 observation hours with the specified organization, and present an ethical challenge to help educate and improve the organization. |
Reds Urban Youth Academy |
Our group selected the Reds Urban Youth Academy for our experimental learning experience. The Red’s Urban Youth Academy (RUYA) is an after school service that not only caters to the academic needs of Cincinnati’s underprivileged population, but it mentors these students and provides them a home away from home in this less fortunate community. Through RUYA, it teaches students skills in Baseball or Softball to enhance discipline and problem-solving skills. The students participating in this organization look up to their tutors, or “mentors” as if they are were their authority figure. I believe this organization also teaches skills such as: respect, responsibility for actions, and at the end of the day it teaches students skills that will help with school work in their future endeavors. RUYA caters to the Cincinnati’s underprivileged population, usually residing in low-income neighborhoods and usually with only one figure of authority in the student’s life. This is not the case for all the students that participate in RUYA’s activities, just a majority of the students we work with every week. The students usually come in around 4pm everyday, and they start with the tutoring portion of the program. Each student is paired with a tutor from the University of Cincinnati, and they will work on schoolwork or test preparation until about 6pm. The students range in age from 5 to 18 years, and various grades of school, appropriate for age. The following presentation includes the ethical challenge that our group observed and how we plan to fix it for RUYA in the future.