New Course: Philosophy of Palliative Care (Winter 2021)
Image by Celia Jacobs - used by permission
Offered for the first time at St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo this Winter 2021 term, PHIL 321J Philosophy of Palliative Care will take a deep dive into the history and essential principles of palliative care, and will examine some of the main challenges the palliative care movement is facing today.
PHIL 321J, Philosophy of Palliative Care, will be my second course on end-of-life care themes, and I am very excited to finally have the chance to offer it to students at SJU/UW. I want to share a bit of my plans for this course, and to say a few words about how it relates to other Kernel Network initiatives.
What is this course?
PHIL 321J will have two parts. Part 1 presents the nature of the palliative care movement by tracing some of the main lines of its history in Europe and North America and by attending to the writings of the key thinkers who gave shape to the modern palliative care movement. The goal of this first part will be to articulate the main philosophical and clinical principles envisioned by the founders of the movement and then developed along with the growth of the movement itself. Modern palliative care is now a global phenomenon; we will try to get a bird’s eye view of how palliative care is practiced around the world today.
In Part 2 of the course, we will consider various challenges and knotty issues that the palliative care movement has faced as it has grown, and that it continues to face today. This will allow us to test and to deepen our understanding of the philosophy of palliative care by applying it to concrete historical realities of contemporary life and culture, and to deepen our understanding of that philosophy itself. How does this philosophy work in relation to other aspects of mainstream medicine? To what extent does it resonate or cause dissonance with tendencies of thought and practice in contemporary popular culture? More specifically, we will examine the public health approach to palliative and end-of-life care, the philosophy of pain and suffering, person-centred and holistic care, the meaning of dignity, Medical Assistance in Dying, and the role of faith, religion and spirituality.
This course will not teach you how to be a palliative care doctor or nurse or social worker, but if you plan to become a palliative care doctor or nurse or social worker, you will benefit from the course by forming a comprehensive view of what modern palliative care has been, is, and can become in the future. As a philosophy course, the emphasis will be on careful, critical examination of the ideas and values that make up the philosophy of palliative care, rather than on learning how to practice specific techniques. Palliative care touches our humanity deeply because it addresses our mortality or finitude, and asks us to consider how the way we care and are cared for relates to the ultimate meaning and value of our lives.
How does it connect?
How does the Philosophy of Palliative Care course (PHIL 321J) fit in with other themes and initiatives within the Kernel Network? I will briefly mention three ways it does so:
First, PHIL 321J adds another course to the existing roster of courses available at St. Jerome’s and UW for students who want to develop their understanding of topics related to aging, dying, and care at the end of life. These topics are of interest to all of us since they evoke realities that all of us must eventually face, for ourselves and for those we love. Beyond their general interest, they are of particular and practical relevance to students who may enter careers in health-related fields, whether in medicine, nursing, social work or public policy development. Applied Health Sciences students in the Gerontology minor, and Biomed students taking the medical physiology minor can count PHIL 321J toward those minors. Courses like PHIL 321J offer an important humanities-based complement to the education of students in non-Arts programs. Arts / Philosophy students contemplating a career in bioethics, in research or as an ethics consultant in a hospital for instance, would also benefit from the chance to explore these subjects.
A second way PHIL 321J can connect to the goals of the Kernel Network is by facilitating connections between academics, students and community partners. The experiential learning component, run for the last two years as part of PHIL 319J Ethics of End-of-Life Care, has successfully complemented students’ classroom learning by putting them in touch with people who do end-of-life care work on the ground. PHIL 321J will offer similar opportunities. The palliative care community in Waterloo region, in Ontario and across Canada is composed of many wonderful people who do wonderful work. Collaboration with relevant community partners in these courses can also provide a basis for developing research partnerships and can help point students in the direction of a career.
PHIL 321J will also advance the Kernel Network goal of forging connections between people who share a passion for the improvement of end-of-life care in Canada. Starting small by inviting health professionals (e.g. palliative care physicians, geriatricians) the course will help generate opportunities for conversation and collaboration with people committed to quality end-of-life care as a matter of professional vocation.
In conclusion
The preceding sections should make clear what this new course is about, and how it fits in with the broader aims of the Kernel Network. If you’re a UW student and are interested in registering for the course, you can enroll in it up until the middle of January (the first week of classes begins on January 11, 2021). If you’re not currently a UW student but are interested in auditing the course, let me know and I’ll look into how that could work for you. If you’re working in a field related to Palliative Care, feel free to reach out to me and we can discuss possible ways of connecting around the course. For my part I’d be happy to chat with anyone who finds the course interesting!
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Hello! We are The Kernel Network a connecting point for academic researchers, students, and community partners who share a vision and passion for improving end-of-life care in Canada.
