Posted: 1/30/2009
Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, associate professor at the School of Nursing and Gail Geller, ScD, MHS, professor at the School of Medicine, are exploring the ethical challenges health professionals face while caring for children and families affected by life-threatening neuromuscular diseases (LTNMD).
“Based on a review of the literature and our own prior work, there is a need to more fully understand the nature, prevalence, and consequences of ethical challenges experienced by Neuromuscular Disease specialists who care for these children, adolescents and their families,” says Rushton. This interdisciplinary research, facilitated by the Berman Institute of Bioethics, is funded through a grant from the Greenwall Foundation. The research will focus on the attitudes and behaviors of health professionals who care for patients living with Duchnne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA Type 1), the two most common pediatric LTNMDs worldwide.