Essential Topics in Clinical Ethics (ETCE)
ETCE is organized by CENTRES
Overview
An intermediate-level short course designed for Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) members and healthcare professionals. The programme comprises 4 Units delivered through short online video lectures followed by synchronous, facilitated case discussions conducted live via Zoom.
Sessions will take place on 22 & 29 July, and 5 & 12 August 2026, from 2.00PM to 4.15PM.
Unit 1: Ethical reasoning, ethical guidance & relationship with professionals
Unit 2: Autonomy, informed consent, truth telling, decision-making capacity and best interests
Unit 3: Shared decision-making, end of life decision-making, advance care planning and nonbeneficial treatment
Unit 4: Health law, defensive medicine and therapeutic innovations
Educators
Assoc Prof Brian D. Earp
Associate Professor
CBmE, NUS
Asst Prof Harisan Unais Nasir
Research Assistant Professor
CBmE, NUS
Ms Mathavi Senguttuvan
Research Associate
CBmE, NUS
Adj Assoc Prof Chan Mei Yoke
Adjunct Associate Professor
CBmE, NUS
Assoc Prof Michael Dunn
Associate Professor
CBmE, NUS
Dr Neeta Satku
Adjunct Senior Lecturer
CBmE, NUS
Asst Prof Owen Schaefer
Assistant Professor
CBmE, NUS
Registration
Non-Clininal Ethics Committee members:
We invite you to register below. A fee of $327 (incl. GST) is payable upon registration to secure your slot. Slots are limited.
Clinical Ethics Committee members:
Please contact your respective CEC administrators to register.
Continuing Professional Education
All participating doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are eligible for 2 MME CME/CPE points respectively per unit.
Mode
• Asynchronous learning will be delivered over 1hour on Canvas and may be viewed within a 2 week window before the synchronous case discussions. [Duration: 1 hr/session]
• Synchronous sessions will be conducted on Zoom. [Duration: 2 hrs 15 min/session]
Course Structure
The series consists of four units. Participants may choose to attend one or more units.
Unit 1 - Ethical reasoning, ethical guidance & relationship with professionals
Duration:
2.00pm to 4.15pm | 22 Jul 2026 (Wednesday)
Learning objective:
To understand principle-based approaches to ethical issues in healthcare practice.
Topics covered:
- Approaches to moral reasoning
- Relationship between moral, ethical, legal and professional responsibilities
- Professional codes of ethics and guidance documents
- Relationship between law and ethics and process at ethics
- Resources for understanding & interpreting cultural and faith communities
Target audience:
Healthcare professionals and clinical ethics committee (CEC) members, who are new to or would like to refresh their knowledge and understanding of ethical reasoning, ethical guidance and relationship with professionals.
Unit 2 - Elements of decision-making (Part 1): autonomy, informed consent, truth telling, decision-making capacity and best interests
Duration:
2.00pm to 4.15pm | 29 Jul 2026 (Wednesday)
Learning objective:
To understand some of the common ethical and legal issues faced by healthcare professionals regarding patient autonomy, informed consent, truth telling, decision-making and best interests.
Topics covered:
- Autonomy, informed consent and refusal
- Disclosure, medical errors and truth telling
- Proxy decision-making, substituted judgment and best interests
- Decision-making capacity
Target audience:
Healthcare professionals and clinical ethics committee (CEC) members, who are new to or would like to refresh their knowledge and understanding of autonomy, informed consent, truth telling, decision-making and best interests.
Unit 3 - Elements of decision-making (Part 2): shared decision-making, end of life decision-making, advance care planning and non-beneficial treatment
Duration:
2.00pm to 4.15pm | 5 Aug 2026 (Wednesday)
Learning objective:
To understand some of the common ethical and legal issues faced by healthcare professionals, regarding shared decision-making, end of life decision-making, advance care planning and non-beneficial treatment.
Topics covered:
- Advance care planning
- End of life decision-making
- Shared decision making
- Potentially inappropriate treatment / futility
- Treatment goals and the related plan of care
Target audience:
Healthcare professionals and clinical ethics committee (CEC) members, who are new to or would like to refresh their knowledge and understanding of shared decision-making, end of life decision-making, advance care planning and non-beneficial treatment.
Unit 4 - Health law, defensive medicine and therapeutic innovations
Duration:
2.00pm to 4.15pm | 12 Aug 2026 (Wednesday)
Learning objective:
To understand relevant health law and some of the common ethical and legal issues faced by healthcare professionals regarding defensive medicine and therapeutic innovations.
Topics covered:
- Relevant health law
- Confidentiality and privacy
- Distinctions between clinical research and therapeutic innovation
- Defensive medicine
Target audience:
Healthcare professionals and clinical ethics committee (CEC) members, who are new to or would like to refresh their knowledge and understanding of health law, defensive medicine and therapeutic innovations.
Registration Form
Important:
If you are a CEC member, please contact your respective CEC administrator to register. Do not use this form.
All requests for refunds will be considered at the discretion of management. Payment is accepted via Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Alipay, and PayNow.