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42 - Teaching bioethics to medical students and postgraduate trainees in the clinical setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

By
Martin F. McKneally  and
Peter A. Singer
Edited by
Peter A. Singer  and
A. M. Viens
Martin F. McKneally
Affiliation:
Professor Emeritus University of Toronto
Peter A. Singer
Affiliation:
Director Emeritus University of Toronto
Peter A. Singer
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
A. M. Viens
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

As he reviews the curriculum for his surgical residency training program, Dr. A is concerned about how to prepare his residents to gain understanding of biomedical ethics as it relates to the specialty and to use their understanding to improve patient care (Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 2001). Last year, he invited a moral philosopher to give a guest lecture, which focused on theoretical issues with no reference to how these concepts relate to clinical experience. The residents' evaluations were unfavorable: “a waste of our time,” “not relevant to the problems we face.” Recently, the residents and nurses were troubled by a difficult situation on the ward: Mr. B, a 46-year-old patient, was found to have unresectable pancreatic cancer, but his wife insisted that the staff withhold the diagnosis from him because he is prone to depression. Dr. A wonders whether this situation could serve as a learning opportunity for the residents and staff and whether he should try to lead a seminar about this problem. He pages the chief resident.

What is bioethics teaching and why is it important?

Bioethics is now taught in most medical schools as part of the standard curriculum. Many accrediting bodies require residency training programs to teach bioethics as a condition of approval, and there is increasing interest in bioethics in continuing medical education.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics , pp. 329 - 336
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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References

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