Medical House Officers' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Confidence Regarding Medical Ethics

The formal and informal surgical ethics curriculum: views of resident and staff surgeons in Toronto

“…We undertook our study to provide the basis for improving the surgical component of the postgraduate ethics education program at the University of Toronto. 2 Much of the focus on postgraduate ethics education has been on defining effectiveness in terms of improvements on specific measures such as knowledge, 3,4 ability to recognize ethical issues, 5,6 attitudes and beliefs, 7 and changes in behavior. 4,8 None of these studies have dealt with surgical specialties.…”

“…2 Much of the focus on postgraduate ethics education has been on defining effectiveness in terms of improvements on specific measures such as knowledge, 3,4 ability to recognize ethical issues, 5,6 attitudes and beliefs, 7 and changes in behavior. 4,8 None of these studies have dealt with surgical specialties. Hafferty and Franks 9 and Hundert et al 10 developed a taxonomy of ethics curricula that describes 3 overlapping spheres: (1) formal curricula: what is taught in the classroom; (2)informal curricula: unscripted ,adhoc interpersonal lessons about values and attitudes, learned from role-models and peers outside the classroom as a subset of the hidden curricula; and (3) hidden curricula: the sum of all the socializing influences imbedded in the organizational and institutional culture including tacit knowledge, or task-specific experiences that cannot easily be articulated or stored in documents.…”

Evidence of improved knowledge and skills after an elective rotation in a hospice and palliative care program for internal medicine residents

“…11 Resident and faculty knowledge of ethical principles surrounding EOL care is insufficient. [13][14][15][16] A variety of measures are underway to improve EOL care training for physicians. Educational efforts in undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and continuing medical education have been initiated.…”

Evaluating Professionalism in Emergency Medicine: Clinical Ethical Competence

“…Ethics courses have long been shown to instill confidence in residents dealing with practical ethical issues. 23 The SAEM Ethics Committee has published an ethics curriculum for EM residencies that targets several theoretical ethical dilemmas and provides real-life examples promoting discussion and retention of key moral principles. 24 The overall objective of this curriculum, in part, was to establish a minimum body of ethics knowledge that should be mastered by the end of residency training.…”

“…21,33,34 While many studies with medical students show that ethics coursework can increase knowledge and alter attitudes, 28,35,36 studies with residents are less encouraging, often demonstrating a lack of effectiveness in changing knowledge and attitudes. 23,37 Didactics can assist greatly in addressing the educational needs of students, and may sometimes be used to improve their moral reasoning in the clinical domain.…”