More than ever before, clinicians are confronted with complex ethical issues in their medical practice. These include disagreements between patients, relatives, and healthcare staff over treatment decisions, difficulties in obtaining informed consent, and issues of medical error, truth-telling and patient confidentiality. Recognising the growing importance of ethical awareness in medicine, the recent Ethics in Practice report of the Royal College of Physicians (2005) concluded that key medical personnel should be suitably trained in clinical ethics. Increasingly, formal examinations in medicine assess applicants on aspects of clinical ethics. The new Applied Clinical Ethics (ACE) course is aimed at practising clinicians and members of CECs, focusing entirely on clinical ethics and practical decision-making. Several of the speakers are both clinicians and ethicists. The convenient arrangement of modules, each falling on a Saturday at monthly intervals, will enable practising clinicians to apply their knowledge in between sessions and attend the course without taking time off work. See the Course Website for further details.
Resources on brief physical activity guidance for older adults in isolation for patients and clinicians Giving Older Adults Brief Physical Activity Advice. Given current clinical pressures, clinicians dealing with older adults will likely have limited time, and this adapted 3As model may provide a possible structure to clinician’s advice. Ask: Permission to discuss physical activity as something that could make a difference to health and wellbeing Advise /Explain/Explore: Ask how they physical activity levels have changed and what they could do to increase it? Agree: A plan considering what they will do, how they will do it. Try to ensure that it includes some cardiovascular, muscle and bone strengthening activities including resistance exercises, balance and co-ordination elements to the plan. Cardiovascular : Ideally the individual should be slightly out of breath when performing the activity. Aim to build to 150 minutes
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