Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Practicum in Bioethics

Course Description

The practicum is an experiential learning course with minimal in-class instruction. Its overarching goal is to provide students with an opportunity to observe, explore, analyze and reflect upon the application of bioethics concepts, theories and approaches in professional practice settings. Practicum placements will vary depending on the learning objectives of the student and availability of appropriate supervision but will normally be in clinical care, research ethics governance, health policy, or public health practice settings. Students will develop and implement an active learning plan with their practicum supervisor. Although the primary mode of inquiry is observational, opportunities for students to put their bioethics knowledge into practice during their practicum placement are encouraged where appropriate.

Course Objectives

The overarching goal of this Practicum course is to provide a context for the integration of theory and practice. In other words, the practicum will provide the occasion for you to observe how theory informs practice. The Practicum has three sub-goals:

• To provide students with in vivo practical experience in Bioethics related work settings. The student may be interested in gaining practical experience in areas such as: clinical ethics consultation, organizational ethics, ethics education, ethics policy development or ethics research.
• To provide students with mentorship throughout the practicum placement. The course is designed to give the student an opportunity to work in the area of bioethics under the supervision of a person with advanced training in bioethics.
• The third goal is to provide a setting for students to develop and implement a Capstone project. See below under the Practical Bioethics Course for more information about the Capstone project.