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April 17, 2026
Preface and Introduction
Those who study and do the work of ethics may notice a tension within health care. The signs are everywhere. They are in comments from health care colleagues such as, "things work differently out here in the field," "ethics articles and literature are way too theoretical," and even "the home office doesn't understand the other ministries." Attending to these responses demands active listening, facilitating, and resolving each issue. Using data-driven or reactive-proactive ethics methods, we can treat such comments as being disconnected or as evidence of a deeper wound or tension.
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April 17, 2026
Ethics in Higher Education
Three institutions of higher education responded to special edition editors' request of programs respected for their scholarship and graduating ethicists into notable roles, particularly within Catholic health care. Programs were given the choice to respond to three prompt questions or feature a part of their curriculum that addresses educational needs or gaps in unique ways. Their responses are in alphabetical order by university.
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April 17, 2026
Clinical Ethics Fellowships
Historic developments are happening with the professionalization of the bioethics field. Hundreds of ethicists have health care ethics certification. Legendary bioethicist Ellen Fox introduces COPACET, the accreditation of clinical ethics fellowship programs, and differentiates accreditation from certification.
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April 16, 2026
Template Clinical Ethics Fellowship
Clinical ethics fellowship programs serve a key function in training ethicists. They provide unique opportunities for experiential learning from an experienced practitioner that complements academic coursework, similar to preceptorships or residencies in many other healthcare professions. However, there has been little work done to formalize the structure or expectations of what ethics fellowships offer. Ellen Fox describes some attempts at such formalization elsewhere in this issue. We offer here a template curriculum for clinical ethics fellowships as one more piece of this effort to provide more rigor in practical training for ethicists.
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April 15, 2026
Ethics Education in the Field with Clinicians
Ethics issues and consultations often include multiple steps to resolve the issue. In the first article, Kelly Stuart brings attention to an underemphasized process in ethics consultation and education – coaching. Next, Paul Wagle introduces an Ascension Health ethics education initiative focused on behavioral health. Their descriptions of both the coaching mode and behavioral health content (and process) make them easily replicable.
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April 15, 2026
CommonSpirit Health Clinical Ethics Intensive
Requiring standard training for everyone providing ethics consultation in a health system helps create common practice expectations and improves the quality of ethics services. The Clinical Ethics Intensive (CEI) is one of three parts to CommonSpirit Health's approach to meeting these needs.