RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Turning good intentions into good outcomes: ethical dilemmas at a student-run clinic and a rubric for reflective action
JF Medical Humanities
JO J Med Humanit
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
SP 179
OP 184
DO 10.1136/medhum-2023-012695
VO 50
IS 1
A1 Peoples, Nicholas
A1 Gebert, J Thomas
A1 Clark, Dana
YR 2024
UL http://mh.bmj.com/content/50/1/179.abstract
AB Student-run clinics represent a unique medical education and healthcare delivery model powered largely by good intentions. These good intentions may produce questionable results, however, when juxtaposed with intense academic pressure to fill one’s curriculum vitae with personal achievements, leadership roles and peer-reviewed publications. It becomes a legitimate ethical question whether student-run clinics consistently and materially enrich the care of underserved communities, or merely inspire a litany of rushed, short-term and low-quality projects that sidestep patient welfare or even cause brazen harm. As co-directors of HOMES Clinic, a student-managed clinic which offers free health and social services to people experiencing housing insecurity, we routinely encounter such well-intentioned but ethically questionable proposals. Here, we present four short case studies that dissect apart some of these common yet suspect assumptions underpinning student-run clinics. We then conclude with a rubric for reflective, calibrated action.There are no data in this work.