The increasing prevalence of dementia and the treatment and care for people with dementia present a myriad of important ethical questions and responsibilities. This was one of the topics discussed during the Summer Course: Ethics in Dementia Care, organised by KU Leuven, one of the largest and most renowned universities in Europe, to which CareMalta Group Chief Operating Officer, Noel Borg, together with Maria Xuereb, CareMalta Group Nursing Manager, attended in Belgium.
The objective of the course, which was held during the first week of July 2022, was to foster exchanges on foundational, clinical-ethical, and organisational-ethical approaches to dementia care.
The course was coordinated by Professor Chris Gastmans and tackled the current societal images of dementia, the advanced care planning in dementia care, sexual expression in dementia care, the use of electronic tracking devices, euthanasia, and what are the ethical issues. Chris Gastmans is a Professor of Medical Ethics and Head of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law at the Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven.
Attending the Ethics in Dementia Care course, together with CareMalta’s COO and Nursing Manager, were participants from different professional backgrounds, such as health care administration, nursing, and social work amongst others, including Dr. Maria Aurora Fenech and Dr. Christian Xuereb from the Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, within the University of Malta.
The course aimed at introducing participants to a variety of stakeholders’ perspectives on ethics in dementia care such as those of the patients, relatives, nurses, physicians, managers, and society as a whole, it also aimed at establishing exchange among national and international experts with respect to ethics in dementia care.