BIOETHICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT: CHALLENGES OF THE INTERDISCIPLINARY METHODOLOGY

<p>The contemporary world is becoming more and more complex in the intermingling of many diverse factors. A number of these factors emerged from the perspective of social, economic, political, religious, cultural, scientific, and technological transformations around the world. There is need for a better understanding of bioethics in the contemporary world and the significance of the interdisciplinary methodology in dealing with issues in bioethics, in the light of contemporary realities. At its emergence as a new discipline, bioethics was faced with a diversity of scientific, epistemological, metaphysical, anthropological and meta-ethical challenges, its original outlook was along the lines of principles, as clearly expressed in the definition given to bioethics in the first edition of the authoritative Encyclopedia of Bioethics. The second edition of the Encyclopedia of Bioethics offered to establish a corrective to the preponderance of the principles’ model and approach, indicating the significance of bioethics as: “…the systematic study of the moral dimensions – including moral vision, decisions, conduct, and policies – of the life sciences and health care, employing a variety of methodologies in an interdisciplinary setting.” This opens up the horizon enabling bioethics to collaborate effectively with the wisdom, knowledge and expertise that flowed from other disciplines, such as the formal sciences, the natural sciences, the medical sciences, health care, engineering, social sciences, philosophy, theology, law, environmental sciences, information, communications and technology. The list is not exhaustive, but the aim is, to empower creative collaboration. These indicate that creative advancement and innovative insight could be found at the intercessions of disciplines. Interdisciplinary methodology broadens the horizons and favours the cross-pollination of ideas that leads to creativity and development. In the face of the multiplicity of specializations, the interdisciplinary methodology is not without its challenges, but even in the face of these challenges there are opportunities, there is no gainsaying the fact that the interdisciplinary methodology has yielded positive results in the field of bioethics, it is also hoped that this could serve a paradigmatic purpose for innovation in philosophy and the humanities in the contemporary context. These also offer the opportunity for critical context analysis and collaboration. The age of closed monadism is over and permanently, combined expertise in an interdisciplinary setting opens up the opportunity for collaboration, greater creativity and innovative development. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0880/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Planning a holistic summative eHealth evaluation in an interdisciplinary and multi-national setting: a case study and propositions for guideline development

Background Summative eHealth evaluations frequently lack quality, which affects the generalizability of the evidence, and its use in practice and further research. To guarantee quality, a number of activities are recommended in the guidelines for evaluation planning. This study aimed to examine a case of an eHealth evaluation planning in a multi-national and interdisciplinary setting and to provide recommendations for eHealth evaluation planning guidelines. Methods An empirical eHealth evaluation process was developed through a case study. The empirical process was compared with selected guidelines for eHealth evaluation planning using a pattern-matching technique. Results Planning in the interdisciplinary and multi-national team demanded extensive negotiation and alignment to support the future use of the evidence created. The evaluation planning guidelines did not provide specific strategies for different set-ups of the evaluation teams. Further, they did not address important aspects of quality evaluation, such as feasibility analysis of the outcome measures and data collection, monitoring of data quality, and consideration of the methods and measures employed in similar evaluations. Conclusions Activities to prevent quality problems need to be incorporated in the guidelines for evaluation planning. Additionally, evaluators could benefit from guidance in evaluation planning related to the different set-ups of the evaluation teams.

Testing Assessments of Integrated Experiential Learning

Design thinking is a powerful platform that provides the structure and process to measure integrated experiential learning (IEL). IEL situates the activities of experiential learning in an interdisciplinary setting that facilitates learning through reflection on experiences that engage deep knowledge in broad applications and span co-curricular and curricular environments. Using courses developed at two institutions as case studies, the authors describe pedagogy, instruction, and assessment methods, and focus the data types, collection, analysis, and implications of three assessment approaches (reflections, networks, and deliverables). They show how design thinking is essential to the assessment of IEL in courses and across institutional stakeholders, including student and academic affairs, alumni relations, employers and local businesses, and those focused on data for improvement in design (e.g., institutional research and legislators). Moreover, they show that the assessment phase of design thinking is essential to sustainability, scalability, and rigor of design thinking IEL projects.

Outcome after Interdisciplinary Treatment for Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage—A Single Center Experience

Background and Objectives: To identify predictors of outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) in our interdisciplinary setting. Materials and Methods: 176 patients who had been treated for aSAH by a team of neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists between 2009 and 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Age, gender, clinical presentation according to the Hunt and Hess (H&H) grading on admission, overall clot burden, aneurysm localization, modality of aneurysm obliteration, early deterioration (ED), occurrence of vasospasm in transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), spasmolysis, decompressive craniectomy (DC), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt placement, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), severe cardiac events (SCE), mortality on Days 14, and 30 after admission, and outcome at one year after the hemorrhage according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) were recorded. Chi square, Fisher’s exact, Welch’s t, and Wilcoxon rank sum served as statistical tests. Generalized linear models were fitted, and ordered logistic regression was performed. Results: SCE (p = 0.049) were a significant predictor of mortality at 14 days after aSAH, but not later during the first year after the hemorrhage. Clipping as opposed to coiling (p = 0.049) of ruptured aneurysms was a significant predictor of survival on Day 30 after aSAH, but not later during the first year after the hemorrhage, while coiling as opposed to clipping of ruptured aneurysms was significantly related to a lower frequency of DVT during hospitalization (p = 0.024). Aneurysms of the anterior circulation were significantly more often clipped, while aneurysms of the posterior circulation were significantly more often coiled (p < 0.001). Age over 70 years (p = 0.049), H&H grade on admission (p = 0.022), overall clot burden (p = 0.035), ED (p = 0.009), DCI (p = 0.013), DC (p = 0.0005), and CSF shunt placement (p = 0.038) proved to be predictive of long-term outcome after aSAH. Conclusion: Long-term results after clipping and coiling of ruptured aneurysms appear equal in an interdisciplinary setting that takes aneurysm localization, available staff, and equipment into account.

Becoming a scholar by publication – PhD students citing in interdisciplinary argumentation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse scholarly subjectivity in the context of citation practices in interdisciplinary PhD research. Design/methodology/approach The paper provides an analysis of longitudinal series of qualitative interviews with PhD students who write scholarly articles as dissertation components. Conceptualizations of subjectivity within practice theories form the basis for the analysis. Findings Scholarly argumentation entails a rhetorical paradox of “bringing something new” to the communication while at the same time “establishing a common ground” with an audience. By enacting this paradox through citing in an emerging interdisciplinary setting, the informants negotiate subject positions in different modes of identification across the involved disciplines. In an emerging interdisciplinary field, the articulation of scholarly subjectivity is a joint open-ended achievement demanding knowledgeability in multiple disciplinary understandings and conducts. However, identifications that are expressible within the informants’ local site, i.e. interactions with supervisors, other seniors and peers, are not always expressible when negotiating subject positions with journals. Originality/value This paper contributes to research on citation practices in emerging interdisciplinary fields. By linking the enactment of citing in scholarly writing to the negotiation of subject positions, the paper provides new insights about the complexities involved in becoming a scholar.

Postgraduate trainee views on eHealth at a distributed medical campus.

Purpose: e-Health is a rapidly evolving field that cuts across specialties however; there is a gap in development and evaluation of training for postgraduates in residency programs. This is a multicentre, collaborative effort among faculty from the departments of Psychiatry, Geriatrics and Internal Medicine in partnership with Ontario Telehealth Network to assess the needs of postgraduate residents in ehealth and build a pilot program to address identified learning gaps. Methodology: We conducted a needs assessment (Appendix A) through an online survey to investigate the self-perceived knowledge, gaps and barriers to eHealth of medical resident physicians at the McMaster University DeGroote School of Medicine Waterloo Regional Campus (WRC), Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Results: All respondents identified that they would be interested in education in telehealth and all of them felt that they would have to use telehealth in their future practices. However, 83.3% did not feel confident using telemedicine in clinical practice. Based on the results of the needs assessment, we have built a pilot rotation in which postgraduate trainees can practice telehealth skills in an interdisciplinary setting.

Postgraduate trainee views on eHealth at a distributed medical campus.

Purpose: e-Health is a rapidly evolving field that cuts across specialties however; there is a gap in development and evaluation of training for postgraduates in residency programs. This is a multicentre, collaborative effort among faculty from the departments of Psychiatry, Geriatrics and Internal Medicine in partnership with Ontario Telehealth Network to assess the needs of postgraduate residents in ehealth and build a pilot program to address identified learning gaps. Methodology: We conducted a needs assessment (Appendix A) through an online survey to investigate the self-perceived knowledge, gaps and barriers to eHealth of medical resident physicians at the McMaster University DeGroote School of Medicine Waterloo Regional Campus (WRC), Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Results: All respondents identified that they would be interested in education in telehealth and all of them felt that they would have to use telehealth in their future practices. However, 83.3% did not feel confident using telemedicine in clinical practice. Based on the results of the needs assessment, we have built a pilot rotation in which postgraduate trainees can practice telehealth skills in an interdisciplinary setting.