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Philosophy for Healthcare Professions Education: A Tool for Thinking and Practice

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Clinical Education for the Health Professions

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Abstract

This is a reflective chapter which focusses on the concept of Philosophy for Healthcare Professions Education. We consider this to be a heuristic device through which to engage, systemically and systematically, with ongoing changes in healthcare and healthcare education, with a view to furthering practice.

Philosophy for healthcare professions education implies adopting a personal philosophical attitude to dissect, critique, and synthesize healthcare practice in relation to specific contexts and wider norms, through educational encounters with and reflections on other disciplinary and professional fields (e.g., the social sciences and humanities fields), and through contrasting theories and practices in healthcare professions. This means developing a critical stance that leads to a conscious and deep understanding of the nature, aims, and functioning of healthcare as both a theoretical and practical field. Achieving this requires a vigorous engagement with those current value systems and norms underpinning healthcare, through a focused reflection on foundational concepts of healthcare such as care, risk, quality, and responsibility afresh, to capture and contribute to the evolving nature of the field in both informed and agentic ways.

In the course of the chapter, we reflect on current changes in healthcare education, through several examples and two specific case studies, while unpacking the very notion of Philosophy for Healthcare Professions Education. In the last part, we bring our arguments and reflections together to propose Philosophy for Healthcare Professions Education as a conceptual tool for curricular changes in healthcare education.

Our arguments may be considered to be of a political nature, aiming toward a reacquisition of a sense of agency and professional judgment, on the part of healthcare professionals, at times of pervasive normativity.

We leave it to our readers to ascertain the possibilities and limitations of our proposal, in relation to their own professional and educational positioning within healthcare.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Kirsten Dalrymple

  2. Centre for Innovation and Development for Education, St. George’s University of London, London, UK

    Roberto di Napoli

Authors
  1. Kirsten Dalrymple
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  2. Roberto di Napoli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirsten Dalrymple .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Debra Nestel

  2. King's College London, London, UK

    Gabriel Reedy

  3. School of Nursing and Midwifery, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

    Lisa McKenna

  4. Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia

    Suzanne Gough

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Dalrymple, K., di Napoli, R. (2022). Philosophy for Healthcare Professions Education: A Tool for Thinking and Practice. In: Nestel, D., Reedy, G., McKenna, L., Gough, S. (eds) Clinical Education for the Health Professions. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6106-7_21-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6106-7_21-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6106-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6106-7

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