Interview with Justin D. Barnard, Henry Institute for Intellectual Discipleship - recipient of the Teaching and Learning Grant-Course Redesign/Development

1. Briefly describe what you did with your Teaching and Learning Grant.

I used this grant in conjunction with the development of a new course for the School of Pharmacy: PHRM 743 Moral Reasoning in Health Care (pharmacy ethics). A significant portion of the grant was used for travel to a national bioethics conference hosted by the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (www.cbhd.org). This conference not only provided an occasion for reflecting on the overarching moral framework for this course, it also afforded insights into current biomedical challenges in the health care professions. In addition to this conference, grant funds also made possible the acquisition of several key texts pertaining directly to pharmacy ethics.

2. How was your teaching and your students’ learning enhanced by this grant?

There are two specific ways in which the teaching/learning experience has been enhanced by this grant. First, the conference provided an opportunity for intense reflection on some metaethical issues that resulted in a particular way of “framing” this course. The practical result of this reflection was an initial lecture entitled: “The Self, Vocation, and Morality.” In this opening lecture for the course, I provide a framework for thinking about pharmacy ethics that is rooted in one’s tacit conception of the self, vocation, and morality. This metanarrative provides the framework and rationale for the course. Second, my interaction with professionals in various health care fields increased my commerce in both current health care issues and language. As an example, I attended one concurrent paper session devoted ethics of the HPV vaccination. This kind of information directly enhances my ability to provide real-world examples of complex moral dilemmas to practioners who are potentially responsible for dispensing such medications.

3. How did (or might) this grant award lead to other opportunities to further develop your teaching and enhance learning?

In addition to supporting my prepration for PHRM 743, this grant also indirectly resulted in an opportunity to interact students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program on the topic of evidence-based medicince. While at the CBHD conference, I attended a concurrent paper session on the topic of outcomes-based medicine and its uses/abuses in the training of physicians. Subsequent email exchanges on this topic with both the paper presenter (Dr. Michael Brooks – Univ. of Kentucky) and nursing professor Dr. Jill Webb resulted in an invitation to speak to the DNP students on moral/philosophical issues associated with evidence-based practice in nursing.

Finally, I expect that my teaching will continue to be enhanced in these arenas by my on-going participation in an informal network of teachers in bioethics. This group convened prior to the start of the CBHD conference and continues to stay in touch through an email list-serve.