Report of the 3rdAnnual Saint Francis Hospice and UCL Study day in Medical Ethics and Law
Held at Saint Francis Hospice, Havering-atte-Bower, 30 January 2015
Organisers
Dr Vinnie Nambisan, Consultant in palliative medicine, Saint Francis Hospice and Tutor in Medical Ethics and Law, UCL
Dr Jayne Kavanagh, Medical Ethics and Law Unit Lead, UCL
We weredelighted to run this successful and highly-evaluated collaboration between Saint Francis Hospice and UCL, now in its third year. We were again grateful to the IME for providing a grant to enable us to provide freeplaces for medical students to attend, including reimbursement of travel costs. In total, we were very pleased to have been able to attract approximately thirty attendees. The Royal College of Physicians again approved this day for their Continuing Professional Development scheme.
The day was supported by a range of excellent speakers who had expertise in ethics, philosophy, law and clinical patient care towards the end of life. In keeping with the ethos of the day, the focus was on providing an opportunity for shared learning and discussion of ethical and legal issues relating to end of life care, within a multi-professional/ student audience. We feel that a particular strength of this day is our focus on making explicit the relevance of ethics and law to day to day healthcare practice.
I am pleased to report that the day was again very highly evaluated. Particular highlights included:a roundup of some of the hot topics in ethics and law from the last 12 months, including Deprivation of Liberty, Assisted Dying and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, given by Dr Vinnie Nambisan (UCL and Saint Francis Hospice); a thought-provoking philosophical exploration of the concept of happiness in relation to death by Dr Ruth Jackson (UCL), an interactive session from Dr Jayne Kavanagh (UCL)covering discrimination workplace, and a session on Advance Decisions from Dr Carolyn Johnston (Kings College London) that was notable, among other reasons, for Carolyn including her own draft Advance Decision for comments from the audience, and also a poem written and performed by Rose Glennerster, student at Kings!
Our usual format of clinician-delivered case presentations and discussions from two practising consultants (Dr Claire Bates, Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust)(Dr Tariq Husain, Consultant Intensivist at Northwick Park Hospital) again gave the opportunity for valuable audience participation and discussion, and demonstrated the relevance of ethics and law to end of life healthcare from the palliative care and intensive care perspectives.
Evaluations of the day were hugely positive, with a range of key learning points identified by the audience; the range of speakers and topics was particularly valued, as was the relaxed, enjoyable informative and participatory nature of the day.
Although we do not have any current plans to repeat this study day in 2016, we may aim to provide a similar day in the future. If so, we would again be aiming to encourage and support a large range of attendees, including students, to maximize the opportunities for shared learning. Thanks to all who have supported and/ or come along to the day in the last three years!
Dr Vinnie Nambisan