CMR Institute | Education for Pharmaceutical Representatives, Biotech, & Medical Device Industries

Medical Ethics

This course begins by describing the evolution of current ethical thinking, including capabilities brought about by advanced medical technology, economic factors influencing the delivery of healthcare in the United States, and the changing physician-patient relationship. The course also explores the ethical dilemmas being debated in ethical, legal, and medical circles, including abortion, stem cell research, cloning, and genetic research and technology. The course then provides an overview of the ethics of rationing healthcare and identifies the specific challenges facing managed care organizations.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to discuss current issues in medical ethics; explain how physicians use ethical frameworks to make decisions regarding patient care; utilize ethical models in making decisions regarding issues of life and death which include abortion, reproductive assistance, genetic research and therapies, euthanasia, forgoing life-sustaining treatment, and physician-assisted suicide; and discuss the economic issues that physicians face in regard to healthcare rationing in a managed care setting.

Who Should Take This Course

Sales representatives, managers, and others who interact with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers would benefit from a knowledge of the ethical concerns challenging the healthcare community.

Career Applications/Benefits

Medical technology has produced rapid advances in reproductive medicine, the potential for diagnosis and treatment of disease at the genetic level, and the ability to prolong life, all of which affect how people view life, death, and care of the terminally ill. Medical ethics also are increasingly focused on economic considerations that influence the fair and balanced allocation of healthcare resources. Physicians and healthcare policymakers look to pharmaceutical companies and representatives for clear and unbiased assessments of the value of pharmaceutical products to help them make difficult treatment decisions for specific patients. Healthcare representatives may confront ethical decisions within the pharmaceutical industry, in addition to having discussions on ethical issues with healthcare providers and administrators. Information provided in this course will allow representatives and others to gain an appreciation of the ethical issues that influence treatment decisions made by physicians and other healthcare providers, as well as by patients and their families.