SGIM ETHICS INTEREST GROUP MEETING MINUTES
After a brief introduction of attendees, we summarized the successes ( 2 workshops, a few posters last year) and failure (EIG info table at the poster session). The remainder of the hour was devoted to brainstorming for the 2014 meeting. The suggestions are listed below.
• Ethics/Humanities needs to have a more overt presence at SGIM. There is no longer an ethics track at the national meeting. We discussed the competition for program space/time and that ethics may not be as important a topic to leadership as it is to the EIG. Julie Rosenbaum has a large role in planning next year’s meeting, so Lisa can contact her to identify strategies to improve ethics presence.
o Suggestions to make ethics more prominent included getting a sponsor, a professorship or establish and award; sharing a track or perhaps highlighting in red ethics sessions listed in other tracks at the national meeting; soliciting more quality submissions from colleagues and students.
o Establish an ethics mentor-mentee program.
o Plan a joint session with other ethics/humanities organizations.
o Use social media to identify and promote ethics sessions.
• Jon Tilburt agreed to submit a workshop proposal about how a general internist can start a career in ethics, utilizing a panel format including an educator, a consultant, and a researcher. This could be the first in a series of workshops, perhaps resulting in a certificate, similar to the “TEACH” training.
• Mark Hughes was nominated to develop a workshop about ethics and research design, pairing with a research methodology person. Gary Rosenthal (not present) was named as a possible participant.
• Kamala Cotts was encouraged to submit a workshop on issues around the care of adults with developmental disabilities.
• Vinayak Kottoor (after the EIG meeting) expressed an interest in developing a workshop about genetic testing and counseling, highlighting ethical issues.
• Lisa Lehman is the incoming chair of the ethics committee. If any EIG member is interested in the committee, he/she would need to contact her.