Trust on Trial: Clinical Ethics in the Misinformation Era

This is a hybrid event.

Virtual attendees will receive the link to join via email 48 hours before the event.

We will explore how the shifting information ecosystem (social media, AI, intentional misinformation and fragmented expertise) reshapes patient and family willingness to trust clinical recommendations. Using case-based discussion, ethical principlism will be connected to practical communication tools (e.g., Ask–Tell–Ask, transparency about uncertainty, equity-minded framing) to navigate misinformation without eroding autonomy. Participants leave with a concise, measurable trust-building plan tailored to their own professional and clinical practice.

Learning Objectives (by the end of this session, participants will be able to…)

1. Analyze at least three drivers of patient/family trust and mistrust (e.g., historical harms, digital misinformation ecosystems, clinician communication behaviors) and then link them to core ethical principlism
2. Apply an ethically grounded culturally sensitive conversation framework (e.g., Ask–Tell–Ask with teach-back and transparency about uncertainty/evidence strength) to complex ethics scenarios to address prognostic uncertainty.
3. Design a brief trust-building ethical action plan including risk/benefit framing, transparency, and equity-minded/community-engagement strategy, along with practical consult metrics to evaluate impact.

Our Guest Speaker:

Renee McLeod-Sordjan, DNP, PhD, MBA APRN-BC, HEC-C, FNYAM, FAME, FAAN, is Dean of Graduate Education Nursing & Professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, President of the Empire State Bioethics Consortium and directs the Division of Medical Ethics for Northwell Health. She is a board-certified family, palliative and acute care nurse practitioner specializing in HIV, gynecology and critical care. Dr. McLeod-Sordjan also holds the distinction of certified healthcare clinical ethicist (HEC-C). She is distinguished fellow of the National Academies of Practice, New York Academy of Medicine, Academy of Medical Educators and an active member of the American Bioethics Program Directors, American Academy of HIV Medicine, American Nurses Association, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, National Board of Respiratory Care, National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty and Sigma Theta Tau. She is an alumnus of Pace University, Adelphi University & Yale University

Host or Publisher Emory University Center for Ethics