This unique textbook utilizes an integrated, case-based approach to explore how the domains of bioethics, public health and the social sciences impact individual patients and populations. It provides a structured framework suitable for both educators (including course directors and others engaged in curricular design) and for medical and health professions students to use in classroom settings across a range of clinical areas and allied health professions and for independent study.

The textbook opens with an introduction, describing the intersection of ethics and public health in clinical practice and the six key themes that inform the book's core learning objectives, followed by a guide to using the book. It then presents 22 case studies that address a broad spectrum of patient populations, clinical settings, and disease pathologies. Each pair of cases shares a core concept in bioethics or public health, from community perspectives and end-of-life care to medical mistakes and stigma and marginalization. They engage learners in rigorous clinical and ethical reasoning by prompting readers to make choices based on available information and then providing additional information to challenge assumptions, simulating clinical decision-making. In addition to providing a unique, detailed clinical scenario, each case is presented in a consistent format, which includes learning objectives, questions and responses for self-directed learning, questions and responses for group discussion, references, and suggested further reading. All cases integrate the six themes of patient- and family-centered care; evidence-based practice; structural competency; biases in decision-making; cultural humility and awareness of the culture of medicine; and justice, social responsibility and advocacy. The final section discusses some challenges to evaluating courses and learning encounters that adopt the cases and includes a model framework for learner assessment.

Introduction

Approaches to Using This Book
"How Many of These Surgeries Have You Done?"
"Can't Stop Coughing (But I Need to Get Back to the Shelter by 6)"
"I Think I'm in Labor"
"Why Does My Son Have Lead in His Blood?"
"Our Baby Is Turning Blue"
"I Have a Touch of Sugar but I Can't Afford My Meds"
"I Don't Want My Child to Get Vaccines"
"Our Son's Cancer Is Gone. Why Can't We Stop Treatment?"
"He Has a Gun and Wants to Kill Himself"
"Bleeding Too Much" (In the Words of a Refugee)
"My Father Wouldn't Want to Live Like This"
"We're Not Ready to Give Up"
"Please Look Beyond My Disability"
"It Runs in the Family"
"I Know Something Is Wrong"
"I'm in Pain!"
"I Don't Want to Be a Guinea Pig"
"Wait, I'm a Research Subject?"
"I Need Blockers So I Don't Turn Into a Girl"
"You Don't Understand-He Needs That Bottle"
"They Say My Baby's Head Is Too Small"
"I Just Want to Help People and See the World"
Evaluating Cases in Context
A Practical Framework for Learner Assessment.