Ethics Education

"It is easier to write a prescription than to come to an understanding with a patient."
-Kafka

Teaching Interprofessional Ethics (TIE)

Interprofessional ethics education is a new initiative to enhance training in professional qualities throughout the OHSU Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Physician Assistant curricula.

To the patient, serious or prolonged illness is frightening, confusing, and intensely isolating. An effective physician, nurse or dentist must be both technically skilled and acutely attended to the patient as a person. For while the technical aspects of health care are critical, they are far more helpful in the context of a respectful and caring relationship, where the health care professional understands the human experience that surrounds illness as well as the illness itself.

The Center for Ethics in Health Care has developed the Teaching Inter-professional Ethics (TIE) Team in response to the increasing challenges of teaching such skills in the busy and complex environment of health care today. The program's goal is to integrate professionalism into every aspect of the medical, nursing and dental school curriculum, preparing each graduate to:

·         Listen, explain, and show caring

·         Work collaboratively with other health care professionals

·         Recognize and manage ethical issues

·         Communicate with patients of diverse backgrounds and beliefs

·         Demonstrate commitment to community service and stewardship of scarce resources

The results will be far reaching. Students (most of whom will choose to practice in Oregon) will have tools they need to be markedly more effective as health care professionals.