Medical ethics education in the medical school curriculum

AbstractThe traditional structure of medical school curriculum in the United States consists of 2 years of pre-clinical study followed by 2 years of clinical rotations. In this essay, I propose that this curricular approach stems from the understanding that medicine is both a science, or a body of knowledge, as well as an art, or a craft that is practiced. I then argue that this distinction between science and art is also relevant to the field of medical ethics, and that this should be reflected in ethics curriculum in medical education. I introduce and argue for virtue ethics as the best opportunity for introducing practical ethical knowledge to medical trainees.

Download Full-text

A developing medical school curriculum by the Learning Outcomes Framework

Korean Association For Learner-Centered Curriculum And Instruction ◽

10.22251/jlcci.2019.19.8.725 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (8) ◽

pp. 725-748

Author(s):

Janghee Park

Keyword(s):

Medical School ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Medical School Curriculum

Download Full-text

Building on Past Experience

10.1093/oso/9780199370818.003.0012 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

J. Donald Boudreau ◽

Eric J. Cassell ◽

Abraham Fuks

Keyword(s):

Medical School ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Past Experience ◽

Medical School Curriculum ◽

Learning Activities ◽

Dual Roles ◽

Medical Program ◽

Mcgill University ◽

Ongoing Development ◽

Renewal Project

This chapter serves to explain the link between a curricular renewal project that has already been completed and one that is envisaged as an aspirational goal and serves as the focus of the book. The Physicianship Curriculum has its origins in courses introduced in 1998 and that evolved over two decades in the undergraduate medical program at McGill University. The innovative modules and learning activities were initially rolled out under the ambit of two distinct conceptual streams: professionalism and healing in medicine. Ongoing development continued using “physicianship” as a new descriptive label. Physicianship refers to the dual roles of the physician: the physician as professional and as healer. The flagship course of the physicianship component of McGill’s medical school curriculum has been a 4-year longitudinal apprenticeship; it is described in detail.

Download Full-text

Paediatric Residents and Fellows Ethics (PERFEct) survey: perceptions of European trainees regarding ethical dilemmas

European Journal of Pediatrics ◽

10.1007/s00431-021-04231-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

M. C. den Boer ◽

A. Zanin ◽

J. M. Latour ◽

J. Brierley

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Ethics ◽

Ethics Education ◽

Ethical Dilemmas ◽

Moral Dilemmas ◽

Ethics Training ◽

Healthcare Team ◽

Medical Ethics Education ◽

European Paediatric ◽

Future Practice

AbstractWith an increasingly complex healthcare environment, ethics is becoming a more critical part of medical education. We aimed to explore European paediatric trainees’ experiences of facing ethical dilemmas and their medical ethics education whilst assessing their perceptions of ethical dilemmas in current and future practice. The Young Sections of the European Academy of Paediatrics and European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care developed an explorative online survey covering demographics, ethical dilemmas faced and ethics training. The survey was made available in nine languages from November 2019 to January 2020 via newsletters and social media. Participants (n = 253) from 22 countries, predominantly female (82%) and residents (70%), with a median age of 29-years, completed the survey. The majority (58%) faced ethical dilemmas monthly or more frequently. Most ethics training was received by ethics lectures in medical school (81%) and on the job (60%). A disagreement between the healthcare team and patient/family was the most frequently faced moral dilemma (45%); the second was withholding/withdrawing life-prolonging measures (33%). The latter was considered the most challenging dilemma to resolve (50%). Respondents reported that ethical issues are not sufficiently addressed during their training and wished for more case-based teaching. Many have been personally affected by moral dilemmas, especially regarding withholding/withdrawing life-prolonging measures, and often felt inadequately supported.Conclusion: Paediatric trainees face many moral issues in daily practice and consider that training about managing current and future ethical dilemmas should be improved, such as by the provision of a core European paediatric ethics curriculum. What is Known:• Paediatric services are becoming more complex with an increase in ethical dilemmas asking for rigorous training in ethics.• Ethics training is often lacking or covered poorly in both pre- and postgraduate medical education curricula.• Existing ethics training for European paediatric trainees is haphazard and lacks standardisation. What is New:• The PaEdiatric Residents and Fellows Ethics (PERFEct) survey provides insight into the European paediatric trainees’ views regarding ethical dilemmas in their current and future practice.• European paediatric trainees report a lack of ethics training during paediatric residency and fellowship.• This study provides content suggestions for standardised medical ethics training for paediatric trainees in Europe.

Download Full-text

Culinary Medicine Training in Core Medical School Curriculum Improved Medical Student Nutrition Knowledge and Confidence in Providing Nutrition Counseling

American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine ◽

10.1177/15598276211021749 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 155982762110217

Author(s):

Christopher R. D’Adamo ◽

Kayli Workman ◽

Christine Barnabic ◽

Norman Retener ◽

Bernadette Siaton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Patient Care ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Nutrition Knowledge ◽

Medical School Curriculum ◽

Nutrition Counseling ◽

Patient Counseling ◽

Culinary Medicine

Background: Elective culinary medicine education has become popular to help fill important gaps in physician nutrition training. The implementation and outcomes among the inaugural cohort of medical students who received culinary medicine training as a required component of medical school curriculum at the University of Maryland School of Medicine are described. Methods: Following a series of elective pilot sessions, culinary medicine training was provided to all first-year medical students in the 2019-2020 academic year. The 3-hour training included evidence-based nutrition lecture, cooking simple recipes, and group discussion of the application to personal and patient care. Pre-/postsession questionnaires assessed nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes as well as nutritional counseling confidence. Paired t-tests estimated mean differences in outcomes pre- and posttraining. Qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis. Results: Overall, 119 of 125 (95.2%) students provided pre- and posttraining outcomes data. All nutritional and patient counseling outcomes improved ( P < .05). Themes of being better prepared to address healthy eating barriers in patient care and personal ability to make healthy dietary changes were noted in qualitative analysis. Conclusion: One session of culinary medicine training in core medical student curriculum was feasible and improved medical student nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes and confidence in patient nutrition counseling.

Download Full-text

Teaching Pathology in an Integrated Preclinical Medical School Curriculum and Adaptations to COVID-19 Restrictions

Academic Pathology ◽

10.1177/23742895211015337 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 237428952110153

Author(s):

Matthew D. Krasowski ◽

John L. Blau ◽

Stephanie J. Chen ◽

Karra A. Jones ◽

Thomas J. Schmidt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical School ◽

Small Groups ◽

Integrated Curriculum ◽

Sudden Change ◽

Health Professions ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Medical School Curriculum ◽

Professional Schools ◽

Large Group ◽

Virtual Instruction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on education at all age levels, including professional schools and health professions programs. We describe the experience of adapting preclinical medical school courses within an integrated curriculum to virtual instruction. A major feature of two of the courses were pathology small groups adapted from pathology courses in the previous medical school curriculum. These small groups were designed to use facilitated groups of 8 to 10 students. With a sudden change to virtual learning, these small groups were shifted to large group virtual sessions. In general, the conversion went well, with ongoing optimization of the format of the large group sessions mainly occurring over the first several sessions. End-of-course student evaluations were generally positive, but with a preference toward returning to live sessions in the future. Scores on 5 multiple choice examinations in the spring 2020 course were essentially identical in mean, standard deviation, and distribution to examinations in the previous 2 years of the course that had similar layout and topic organization. We discuss the challenges and successes of the switch to virtual instruction and of teaching pathology content within an integrated medical school curriculum.

Download Full-text