Perspectives Summer/Fall 2016

COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES • 11 On March 31, the Multicultural Affairs Committee hosted the 10th Annual Health Professions Division (HPD) Ethics Bowl at the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus. Alina Perez, J.D., M.P.H., LCSW, associate professor of public health at NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, who served as the keynote speaker, addressed issues related to public health and ethics in her speech to the students. Approximately 75 students and faculty coaches competed in the Ethics Bowl, which consisted of 9 student teams from various academic pro- grams within the HPD. The participating teams represented the anesthesiologist assistant, dental medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physician assistant, and physical therapy programs. The debate-style cases covered areas such as patient abuse, negligence, accountability, and informed consent. In addition, the 18 faculty members who participated as judges were asked to rank teams based on their ability to make reasoned arguments using ethical standards learned in the classroom. The surprise of the night occurred when the only undergraduate student team participating in the Ethics Bowl—the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus nursing squad—ended up winning two rounds to place in the grand finale. In the final round, the undergraduate nursing team faced off against the dental students to win the compe- tition. Audience members commented that they were shocked that such young undergraduates were able to win against very seasoned graduate and professional students from the other HPD programs. It was quite clear that the nursing faculty members had provided their students with a great deal of effective preparation before the event. Marcella Rutherford, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S.N., R.N., dean, College of Nursing, participated as a judge and was able to witness the success of her student team. “The nursing program here at NSU prides itself on giving a lot of emphasis to ethics and behavior in our program,” Rutherford said. n Celebrating their upset win are the triumphant nursing students and their faculty coaches. Nursing Team Wins Ethics Bowl Competition BY JONATHON MAY, M.A., DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS