aybe some of us were surprised by this! On reflection, perhaps we should not be too surprised since the provision of healthcare is constantly evolving because of advances in medicine and changing contexts, such as our rapidly ageing population and the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of these developments and challenges, healthcare professionals are increasingly encountering unfamiliar and new ethical dilemmas in clinical practice.

While most healthcare professionals would have been taught healthcare ethics in their undergraduate courses, it is essential that they continue to deepen their understanding of healthcare ethics, and seize opportunities to reflect on the ethical and moral dimensions of clinical practice with their peers and ethicists.

The NUS Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE) recently launched a Seminar Series to make healthcare ethics education more accessible to the wider community of healthcare professionals. The inaugural Seminar Series was launched in February and March 2022 on the theme of Ageing and Ethics.

Four seminars were led by Dr Jacqueline Chin and Associate Professor Michael Dunn on the following topics:

Seminar 1 opened with the question “How Do We Age?”, pondering what it means to “age successfully”, and considered the efforts being put into extending healthy life years and compressing years of frailty.

Seminar 2 explored the changing nature of relationships and in particular, the complexities of loneliness as a person ages, set against the context of available social support networks and especially Singapore’s “many helping hands” model.

Seminar 3 examined the ethical dimension of what makes for good care for ageing in place (i.e. non-institutionalised), and the fairness of the social care system that supports ageing at home and in the community.

Seminar 4 rounded up the series by delving into the question of what makes for a “good life” for older people living with dementia (of varying severity), and considered the issue of advance care planning in anticipation of future loss of mental capacity.

Each two-hour seminar was priced at $80.25 and participants could choose to attend any of them. The seminars were conducted via Zoom in the early evening to make it more convenient for working professionals to participate, and carried Continuing Professional Education (CPE) points for doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

The first run of this seminar series was well-received. Spots for all the seminars were quickly taken and we had a turnout of healthcare professionals from different backgrounds, with a majority of them being doctors and nurses.

The seminar series is CBmE’s most recent programme offering for healthcare professionals. Upcoming seminars will include focus on topics such as healthcare ethics and law, biomedical research ethics, and the ethics of biotechnology and innovation.

1. Skills Demand for the Future Economy Report (2021), https://www.skillsfuture.gov.sg/-/media/Skills-Report-2021/Skills-Report-Documents-FINAL/SSG-Skills_Demand_for_the_Future_Economy_2021.pdf.