Through immersive technology and instructional design, the Navigate 2 Scenario for Health Care Ethics creates an environment in which the student assumes various roles within the Health Care System, where they will be presented with ethical dilemmas and various opposing viewpoints. In some cases, the “right” decision can be subjective, and the student will need to use ethical decision-making skills to defend their choice.

In each episode, the student will progress through a series of different settings and character interactions that will teach them about key concepts in Health Care Ethics. The student will analyze information, make decisions, and see the impact of their participation in real time.

At the end of the episode, students will have the opportunity to assess their knowledge with a multiple-choice quiz that reports directly to their instructor’s Navigate 2 gradebook.

Episode 1: Equipment Purchase

In this episode, the student is the CFO of small rural women’s health center within Bright Road Health Care System. The physicians in the center have approached the student to purchase a mammography 3D machine, at a cost of $500,000. The student will have to use newly learned ethical decision making skills to consider finance, authority of Board of Directors, public relations/marketing, wishes of medical staff, needs of the community, and future implications when making a decision as to whether or not to bring in the new technology.

Episode 2: Stockpiling

In this episode, as the purchase/procurement manager of a large hospital within the Bright Road Health Care System, the student will have to make a critical decision with regards to a particular cancer treatment drug that was recently taken off the market. The student will use the information gathered to consider the good of the individual vs. good of community, PR, humanitarian aspects, future cost of medicines, future availability of the medicine, and potential of the hospital needing the medicine in near future.

Episode 3: Labor and Delivery Services

In this episode, the student is the manager of the Social Services Department. As part of the ethics committee for a rural 18-bed hospital, the CEO and CFO ask the student to contribute to an initial discussion on the decision to continue having labor and delivery in the hospital. The student knows that historically in this community, women seek late prenatal care. In discussions with the committee, the student learns that the Ob/Gyn has no back-up specialty coverage, that the family practitioner really does not want to do obstetric services (late nights, insurance…), and that the community loves the service. Based on this information, the student must make a recommendation whether to continue labor and delivery services at the hospital.

Episode 4: Confidentiality

In this episode, the student is the head of Information Technology (IT) Services. When test results for an upstanding member of the community come back as positive for Syphilis, the student is presented with some ethical decision making challenges based on laws requiring that the results to be reported to the state Public Health department, versus the ethics of patient/physician confidentiality.