Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Resource Allocation Ethics

Course Description

CHL3007H introduces students to key topics in health priority setting (resource allocation) from both theoretical and practical viewpoints. The goal is for students to develop an understanding of key concepts, issues, and approaches related to priority setting in health systems and institutions from an interdisciplinary ethics perspective. Case studies will be a constitutive component of each session, some of which will be contributed by the co-instructors and guest faculty and many of which we hope and anticipate will be contributed by students through class discussion based on their professional, disciplinary, and personal experiences and expertise. CHL3007H has a hybrid format with both in-person and online components. The in-person component is conducted as a workshop on the UofT campus during the MHSc in Bioethics Residency Week and the online component is conducted synchronously during six seminar sessions throughout the term.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Describe and distinguish different theories of justice related to priority setting and resource allocation in health institutions and systems
• Examine priority setting/resource allocation problems from both theoretical and practical viewpoints
• Appreciate the contributions and interactions of interdisciplinary methods in analyzing priority setting/resource allocation problems
• Apply ethical reasoning to address priority setting/resource allocation problems in practice

Methods of Assessment

Theories of Justice: Case Analysis	30%
Final Paper – Part 1 – Paper proposal – Part 2 – Final paper	10% 40%
Group Project	20%