Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Anthropology of Health
Teaching staff
- Make an appointment via e-mail to Professor
Ignacio Macpherson: imacpherson@uic.es
Mauricio Pacheco: mpacheco@uic.es
Introduction
Technological advances have created new scenarios for all professionals in the health sciences and have raised great hopes of concrete improvements to the lives and future of mankind. However, it is also common for both clinical practice and scientific research or in management that problems and questions of ethical and anthropological nature arise and unambiguously demonstrate the need for a constant relationship and integration between technical and ethical reasons, so that the acquisition of new knowledge is conducted so to achieve and do the best for the man who is at his/her greatest vulnerability. For prepared professional, technical and scientific training is not enough to practice nursing correctly but also includes an anthropological and ethical dimension.
The course of "Medical Anthropology" aims to reflect on the value of human life, the respect it deserves and its relationship to good health. Based on the principles that should inspire Nursing conduct, in order to know how to integrate the actions that arise in daily clinical practice, knowing the rights of the person and the main health regulations governing professional skills is necessary.
Training in "Medical Anthropology" aims to provide students in Nursing knowledge and specific training that will train and help, not only to make the best decisions in situations that are considered limited, but also to know how to act in various situations that arise in daily clinical practice.
Pre-course requirements
Have knowledge of Philosophical Anthropology
The Department of Nursing in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences has agreed that it is compulsory for all students taking a Bachelor's degree in Nursing, when participating in online classes, to turn on their camera and remain visible to lecturers and professors at all times.
Objectives
- Develop the ability to think and argue about ethical issues based on the analysis of the present situation.
- Provide conceptual tools to understand the importance of acquiring the principles and fundamental virtues of the ethics of care: compassion, competence, confidence, trust.
- Discover the meaning and value of the fundamental principle of the dignity of the human person, particularly in areas related to illness or other vulnerable situations taking into consideration both the physical and mental limitations of the person
- Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal communication in the context of the therapeutic relationship.
- Make known the basics of professional nursing legislation.
- Analyze the important implications of the social and cultural diversity for understanding disease and health.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 11. E - Establish effective communication with patients, families, social groups and partners and promote health education.
- 12. B - Know and observe the ethical code of conduct of Spanish nursing, understanding the ethical implications of health in a changing global context.
- 15. B - Work with the team of professionals as a basic unit in which uni or multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary professionals and other staff of health care are organized.
- 19. B - Ability to make decisions based on critical thinking and reflective practice.
- 1. G - Ability to provide technical and professional health care appropriate to the health needs of the people they treat, with full technical and scientific autonomy, according to current and available scientific knowledge and to the quality standards and safety requirements set forth in the applicable legal standards and code of ethics.
- 4. B - Understand the interactive behavior of the person according to their gender, group or community, within their social and multicultural context.
- 7. B - Understand people without prejudice, considering their physical, psychological and social aspects, as autonomous and independent individuals, ensuring respect for their opinions, beliefs and values, ensuring their right to privacy through confidentiality and professional secrecy.
- 8. B - Promote and respect the right of participation, information, autonomy and informed consent in decision-making of people treated, according to the way they live their health - disease process..
Learning outcomes of the subject
At the end of the course of "Medical Anthropology" students will be able to:
- Provide care guaranteeing the right to dignity, privacy, intimacy, confidentiality and patient's and family's ability to make decisions.
- Recognize ethical issues that arise in professional practice and identify the apparent ethical conflicts and values presented.
- Know and respect the ethical and deontological code of Spanish Nursing.
Syllabus
I. FUNDAMENTAL OF ETHICS
The rational foundation of ethics
The moral phenomenon
Freedom and autonomy
Good and dignity
Ethical rationality and moral judgments
Human conscience
Modalities of conscience
Principles to follow one's conscience.
Human action
Underlying principles of human acts
The lesser evil
Double effect
Cooperation to evil
The virtues and values
Nature and acquisition of virtue.
The fundamental virtues
Ethics of social life
Physical integrity and violence
Racial / sexual discrimination
Respect for privacy
Information-communication ethics
Justice in professional relationships
Justice in the distribution of resources
II. ETHICS AND LEGISLATION
The law and the rights
The moral Law. Characteristics and contents
Distinction morality-legality
Human rights
Legislation of clinical practice
Principles of action
Medical records
Informed Consent (CI)
Professional secrecy
Legal responsibility
Judicial accountability and contracts
Conscientious objection
Assistance Ethics Committees
Limits in procedures
Ethical-deontological codes
III. ETHICAL APPLIED
Methodological principles of ethical decisions
Ethical components of human acts
Analysis of the moral decision of the health professional
Stages in the decision making process
Origin and development of Bioethics
Definition of Bioethics
Brief historical panorama
Founding models in Bioethics
Application of models in case studies
Beginning of human life
Human sexuality
Fertility and sterilization
Prenatal diagnosis and abortion
Current legal situation
Assisted reproduction
Stem cells and embryonic selection
Embryo Experimentation
Genetic manipulation
Ethics of fragile life
Information to patients and their rights
The care and attention to at-risk patients
Health professional-patient relationship
Term of human life
Suffering and Palliative Care
Limitation of therapeutic effort
Sedation and Dysnasia
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Research Ethics
Experimentation with humans
Experimentation with animals
Interventions for human improvement
Fraud in investigation and publication
The conflict of interest
Clinical Research Ethics Committees
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The course is usually taught through theoretical sessions (lectures) and practice sessions. The content of the lectures will consist of the main topics and concepts of the units which are detailed in the course syllabus. The classes will be based mainly on the analysis of texts, audiovisual documents and case studies that are intended to illustrate and deepen the concepts explained above.
1. Lecture: presentation of the contents of the program.
2. Study and resolution of cases.
3. Performing practices: critical reading of texts, audiovisual (individual and group presentations).
4. Implementation of a project: teamwork. Cooperative practices among peers.
5. Documents review: books, essays, articles, texts
6. Academic tutoring.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
The Medical Anthropology course is approved with a 5. The overall score is obtained by making the weighted average of three activities:
a) Exercises in class, attendance, communications, cases, text comments, practical exercise (30%).
b) Partial exam (eliminatory) (35%)
c) Final exam (35%)
To make half between the three parts of the subject, it is necessary to have obtained at least a 5 in either of the three activities.
All these specifications apply both to the presential and blended learning options.
Copying, forgery or fraud in individual written assignments or in teams, in attendance to classes, and/or in written or oral exams is a serious offense that carries the immediate failure of the course. If a course is repeated, disciplinary proceedings will be open to the author. DISCIPLINARY RULES FOR THE STUDENTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF CATALUÑA. CHAPTER I. OF THE DISCIPLINARY OFFENCES. Article 2. ((g) h)
Honors qualifications will not be awarded during retakes.
Honor Matrix Assignment Procedure (MH)
- The criterion for assigning Honorary Enrolments (MH) is based on the Excellent (9.0).
- The assignment is solely for the teacher and does not have to give it, even if the student has obtained a mark above 9.0.
- In case the teacher decides to award MH, he will not take into account the numerical mark and the highest, but will evaluate other factors. The HM might not match the highest numeric score.
Procedure for Non-presented Assignment (NP)
- To register an NP in the student's file, it must not have been submitted to any of the evaluation tests throughout the assignment.
- If a student has submitted to one of the evaluation tests, the corresponding percentages in the teaching guide will be applied, with a 0 in those not presented.
Procedure for plagiarism or academic fraud
Any assignment or activity (including exams) in which plagiarism, falsification or academic fraud is detected, will result in a failure of the activity and an academic sanction that will entail from the loss of enrolment rights in this subject, to the opening of a file process.
Bibliography and resources
HANDBOOKS
POLAINO, A., Manual de Bioética General, Rialp, 2000.
CICCONE, L.; Bioética. Historia.Principios. Cuestiones. Palabra, Madrid, 2005.
MANERO, E; TOMAS, G Mª, Diccionario de Bioética para estudiantes, Formación Alcalá, S.L., 2008.
SGRECCIA, E., Manual de Bioetica I: Fundamentos y Ética Biomédica, BAC, 2010.
SIMON, C., Diccionario de Bioética, Montecarmelo, 2006
REFERENCE:
AA.VV, Vivir y morir con dignidad: temas fundamentales de bioética en una sociedad plural, A M González, E. Postigo, S. Aulestiarte (ed), Pamplona, Eunsa, 2000.
ABEL, F., Bioética: orígenes, presente y futuro, Madrid, Institut Borja de Bioética, Fundación Mapfre medicina, reimp. , 2001.
ALBURQUERQUE, E., Bioética, una apuesta por la vida, Madrid, 1992.
ANDORNO, R., Bioética y dignidad de la persona, Madrid, Tecnos,1998.
ANRUBIA, E. (Ed.), La fragilidad de los hombres. La enfermedad, la filosofía y la muerte, Eds. Cristiandad, Madrid, 2008.
ASHELY, B.M., O'ROURKE, K.D., Ethics of Health care, An Introductory Textbook, 2ª ed. Washington. Georgetown University Press, 1994.
BEAUCHAMPS, T.L., CHILDRESS, F. J., Principios de Ética Biomédica, Barcelona, Mason 4ª ed., 2000.
BLAZQUEZ, N., Bioética: La nueva ciencia de la vida. Madrid, BAC, 2000.
COMITÉ CONSULTIU DE BIOÈTICA DE CATALUNYA (2007). Orientacions sobre la diversitat cultural i la salut. Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Salut.
D'AGOSTINO, F., Bioética: estudios de Filosofía del Derecho, Madrid, Eiunsa, 2003.
DE HENNEZEL M. La muerte íntima. Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1996.
DEL BARCO, J.L., Bioética de la persona:fundamentos éticos y antropológicos. Chía [Colombia], Universidad de la Sabana, 1996.
ESCRIBANO, X. (Ed.), Territoris humans de la salut. Societat, cultura i valors en el món sanitari, Eds. Dux, Barcelona, 2008.
ESPEJO M.D., CASTILLA, A., Bioética en las Ciencias de la Salud, Granada, Asociación Alcalá, 2001.
GRACIA, D., Fundamentos de Bioética, Madrid, 1989.
LOPEZ MORATALLA, N., [et al. ] Deontología biológica, Pamplona, Universidad de Navarra, 1987.
LEÓN SANZ, P. (ed.), La implantación de los derechos del paciente: comentarios a la Ley 41-2002. EUNSA, Pamplona, 2004.
LÓPEZ, G. Aborto y contracepción,
MONGE, M. A., Ética, salud, enfermedad. Palabra, Madrid, 1991 (especialmente enfocada a las cuestiones éticas de la práctica clínica)
PASTOR, LM y LEÓN FJ. Manual de ética y legislación en Enfermería. Madrid. Ed. Mosby, 1997.
PASTOR L.M., FERRER, M., La bioética en el milenio biotecnológico, Murcia,Sociedad Murciana de Bioética,2001.
POISSON, J.F. Bioética ¿El hombre contra el hombre?, Rialp, Madrid, 2009.
ROQUE MV. Médico y paciente. El lado humano de la medicina. Ed. Dux, Barcelona, 2007.
TORRALBA, F., Antropología del cuidar, Institut Borja de Bioètica/ Fundación Mapfre Medicina, Barcelona, 1998.
INTERNET
- Bioethicsline www.bioethics.Georgetown.edu/bioline.htm
- Euroethics www.gwdg.de/-uelsner/entrez/.fcgi
- Asociación Médica Mundial www.wma.net
- Canadian Bioethics Society: www.bioethics.ca/english
- Asociación Europea de Centros de Ética Médica: www.kuleuven.ac.be/cbmer/eacmeherstel.htm
- European Bioethical Research: www.bioethics.org.uk
- Asociación Española de Bioética y Ética médica: www.aebioetica.org
- Bioética y Derecho. Universidad de Barcelona: www.Ub.es/fildt/bioetica.htm
- Centro de Documentación de Bioética del departamento de Humanidades Biomédicas: www.unav.es/cdb
-Observatorio de Bioética de Valencia: www.observatoriobioetica.com
Evaluation period
- E1 15/01/2025 12:00h
- E2 10/07/2025 10:00h