Doctoral Dissertation Research: Professional Ethics: An Ethnographic Study of Clinical Bioethics In the U.S.A. and Canada

这篇由人类学学生撰写的论文研究将研究美国和加拿大医疗环境中的临床生物伦理学家如何建立和谈判专业身份。利用参与者观察、结构化和非正式访谈的方法，该学生将研究德克萨斯州休斯顿一家教学医院的生物伦理学家、蒙大拿州米苏拉国家农村生物伦理学项目成员、加拿大多伦多大学生物伦理学联合中心以及加拿大萨斯喀彻温省里贾纳和萨斯卡通的农村教学医院的生物伦理学家。学生将测试关于知识、技能和性格在美国和加拿大认证专业人员中的作用差异的假设；利益相关者和资源管理者在两国认证过程中的不同作用；这些非医学专家在医疗环境中的权力谈判的语境和人际性质；生物伦理学家将在解决日常实践问题中扮演多重角色。除了有助于培养年轻的社会科学家之外，这项研究还将促进我们对现实生活中医疗保健的伦理维度是如何制定的，以及非医疗当局在医疗环境中作为患者倡导者时如何获得合法性的理解。

This dissertation research by an anthropology student will study how professional identity is established and negotiated by clinical bioethicists in medical settings in the US and Canada. Using methods of participant observation, structured and informal interviews, the student will study bioethicists at a teaching hospital in Houston Texas, members of the National Rural Bioethics Project in Missoula Montana, the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, Canada, and in rural teaching hospitals in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The student will test hypotheses dealing with differences in the roles of knowledge, skills, and character in credentialing professionals in the US and Canada; the different role of stakeholders and resource managers in the credentialing process in the two countries; the contextual and interpersonal nature of authority negotiation of these non-medical specialists in medical settings; and the multiple roles bioethicists will play in resolving problems of daily practice. In addition to contributing to the training of a young social scientist, this research will advance our understanding of how the ethical dimensions of medical care are worked out in real life, and how non-medical authorities gain legitimacy when they act as patient advocates in a medical setting.