The feature article in this issue of Health Care Ethics USA by Mark Repenshek and Alyson Isaksson describes a series of summer internships in health care ethics along with a culminating semester-long Master's Fellowship for Alyson Isaksson who is interested in pursuing a career in ethics in Catholic health care. Their purpose in writing the article was both to receive feedback toward refining the program, but also to encourage other health care organizations to consider offering something similar. Internships and fellowships are an important way to foster careers in Catholic health care ethics in response to the shortage of ethicists in Catholic health care and to support a set of desired competencies in our system and hospital ethicists.

During a special dinner for graduate students attending the Theology and Ethics Colloquium last March, when asked what CHA could do to assist them, several mentioned the desirability of internships. These internships they said would a) help them better understand Catholic health care and the role of the ethicist, b) provide them with some needed experience, and c) bolster their motivation to pursue their graduate studies and a career in Catholic health care ethics. In response to their suggestion/request, CHA ethicists sent a survey to all ethicists and mission leaders several months ago. One set of questions had to do with internships. Here are the results.

• 16 organizations (11.4%) responded that they would be able to offer a summer internship to a graduate student interested in a career in ethics in Catholic health care, while 47 organizations (33.6%) said they possibly could do so.
• 21 organizations (27.3%) said that they could do so every year, while 56 (72.7%) were unsure.
• Length of the internship varied from one week (4), two weeks (4), one month (10), two months (13), to three months (20).
• 3 said they could offer a stipend; 21 said possibly; 40 said probably not and 16 indicated they could not offer a stipend.
• 1 could provide lodging; 20 might be able to provide lodging, while 38 probably could not and 23 definitely could not.

These responses are encouraging. Over the next month or so, we will make this information available on the public side of the CHA website in a special section devoted to careers in ethics in Catholic health care. The information will be organized by system/facility along with contact information to enable students who wish to follow up to do so. Making internships and fellowships available to prospective ethicists is an important contribution to our future.

RH

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