Abstract
For quite some time now, there have been discussions and debates in North America in the field of ethics concerning professionalization. From a talk given to graduate and undergraduate university students, the author tells the personal journey of an ethicist in the province of Quebec, Canada, and offers a narrative to illustrate some of the issues she faced since starting her work in the field of ethics at the end of the 1990s. Instead of taking the usual “for” and “against” positions, the author addresses the issue of professionalization of healthcare ethics from her own point of view. Referring to her experience with ethics committees and research ethics boards and to the works of George A. Legault in Crise d’identité professionnelle et Professionnalisme (Presses de l’Université du Québec, Sainte-Foy, 2003), she pleads for the development of practice standards and the creation of a deliberative process (see Kirby and Simpson in this issue of HEC Forum 2012), a dialogical space for assuring professionalism in healthcare ethics interventions, not solely the act of becoming a profession.
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Notes
The Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS) was first published in 1998. A new version, TCPS 2 (2010) is now available http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/pdf/eng/tcps2/TCPS_2_FINAL_Web.pdf. The Plan d'action ministériel en éthique de la recherche et en intégrité scientifique (1998), is still in effect in Quebec.
The Clinical Ethics Summer Institute (CESI) took place July 12-14, 2006 at Emmanuel College, Victoria University, University of Toronto, hosted by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. The CESI 2006 Leadership Team was comprised of Paula Chidwick (William Osler Health Centre, Brampton), Laurie Hardingham (St. Joseph’s Health Care, London), Karen Faith (Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto) and Dianne Godkin (Centre for Clinical Ethics—a shared service of Providence Healthcare, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, & St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto). The Administrative Team included Sue MacRae, Barbara Secker and Brenda Knowles (University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics).
The use of the term “clinical ethicists” here is consistent with the definition of “practicing healthcare ethicists” used in this issue.
This approach is also consistent with the one that PHEEP is taking in its work (see Kirby and Simpson in this issue).
References
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) (1998). Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/archives/tcps-eptc/docs/TCPS%20October%202005_E.pdf.
Kirby, J., & Simpson, C. (2012). Deliberative engagement methodology for exploring professionalization. HEC Forum, 24(3). doi:10.1007/s10730-012-9189-6.
Legault, G.A. (dir.) (2003). Crise d’identité professionnelle et Professionnalisme, Sainte-Foy: Presses de l’Université du Québec.
MacRae, S., Chidwick, P., Berry, S., Secker, B., Hébert, P., Zlotnik Shaul, R., et al. (2005). Clinical bioethics integration, sustainability, and accountability: The Hub and spokes strategy. Journal of Medical Ethics, 31(5), 256–261.
Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux du Québec (1998). Plan d’action ministériel en éthique de la recherche et en intégrité scientifique.
Acknowledgments
I take this opportunity to acknowledge my mentors over the years: Jacqueline Fortin, Sonya Audy, Guy Durand, Hubert Doucet, David J. Roy, Guy Bourgeault and Jocelyne St-Arnaud.
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Roigt, D. The Question of Professionalization: A Narrative. HEC Forum 24, 179–186 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-012-9185-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-012-9185-x