Bruce Greenfield
Greetings to all members of the CPN. My name is Bruce Greenfield and I am currently a Professor in Physical Therapy and Senior Fellow in the Center for Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I was born and raised in New York but moved to Atlanta in 1972. I have been married for 35 years and have 3 children and 4 grandchildren ( yes I am getting old!). I am an avid reader (for anyone who can recommend a good book) and a not so avid runner, but I do my best. I graduated from physical therapy school at Emory University way back in 1981. I have a master’s degree in medical science and bioethics, and a PhD in Higher Education.
For the first 15 years of my career, I practised physical therapy before a restless curiosity led me to switch paths. Instead of treating patients with musculoskeletal conditions, I became an educator and researcher with an interest to explore the social and human domains of practice, including the ethical dimensions of practice. My interest in psychosocial dimensions of care was not an epiphany, but rather a slow realization of how patient outcomes were influenced by the nature of the interaction between patient and PT. My interest extended to capturing how experienced and novice PTs embrace their roles as moral agents and how reflective narratives can be used as a learning method for clinical education. During the last 15 years, my work in these areas have crystalized narrative thought and exerted influence by setting terms of what constituted clinical learning and ethical practice. My scholarship focuses on strategies to enhance person-centered care approaches. Specifically, I have developed an ethics of care based on phenomenology that contains principles, theories and practical steps to help clinicians to understand the values and concerns of a patient living with disabilities as those values emerge and change over time. I am currently exploring and integrating the use of narrative to promote reflection and reflexivity for learning in practice. Of interest, I was awarded two grants from Emory University to develop and coordinate courses entitled: Disability, Resilience and Mortal Self: Healing and Care Across the Life Span. The course explored the meaning of disability from multiple perspectives, was an interdisciplinary course taught to undergraduate and graduate students at Emory.
My interest in CPN is linked to my interest in exploring alternative ways of exploring and understanding psychosocial issues of care, and the ways we construct our understanding, and the meaning of disability and suffering. Part of my perspective is based on the existential nature of acquired disability as one struggles in a liminal state between who he/she was and what he/she will become. As an ethicist, I am interested in the ways that healthcare professionals can act as moral agents toward their patients.
Email address: bgreenf@emory.edu
Location (city/town, country): Atlanta, Georgia
Current position(s): Professor Rehabilitation Medicine and Senior Fellow Center for Ethics, Emory University
Relevant critical publications:
Greenfield B. The meaning of caring in five, experienced physical therapists. Physiotherapy Theory & Practice. 2006: 22: 175-187.
Greenfield B, Greene B, Johanson M. The use of qualitative techniques in orthopedics and sports physical therapy. Moving toward postpositivism. Phys Ther Sports. 2007: 8: 44-
Greenfield B, Anderson A, Cox B, Tanner M. The meaning of caring in novice physical therapists. Phys Ther. 2008: 88(10): 1-13.
Rauscher L, Greenfield B. Advancements in contemporary physical therapy research: The use of mixed methods designs. Phys Ther. 2008: 89(1): 91-100.
Greenfield B. Phenomenology: An alternative ethics in rehabilitation. Commentary. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2009: 88: 955-958.
Greenfield B, Keough E, Linn S, Little D, Portela, C. Perspectives of caring from patients undergoing physical therapy. J Allied Health. 2010: 39(2): e-43 – e-47.
Greenfield B, Jensen G. Beyond the code of ethics: application of phenomenology for ethical decision making. Physiotherapy Research Int. 2010: 15(2): 88-95.
Greenfield B, Jensen G. Understanding the lived experiences of patients: Application of phenomenological approach to ethics. Phys Ther. 2010: 10(8): 1185-1197.
Greenfield B. Invited Commentary. Phenomenology in rehabilitation. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation. 2011: 18(1): 35-39
Greenfield BH, Bridges PH, Phillips T, Carter V, Barefoot T, Dobson A, Eldridge A, Ng N, Nicoletti L. Reflective narratives by student physical therapist on early clinical experiences: an inductive and deductive analysis: The use of a reflective framework. J Phys Ther Ed. 2017:31(4): 49-58.
Links:
https://www.emorydpt.org/faculty
https://www.healthethicsblog.com/single-post/2018/02/21/Why-are-medical-humanities-relevant-in-an-era-of-technologically-driven-healthcare
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