DuBois James M, Burkemper Jill
Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63104, USA.
Acad Med. 2002 May;77(5):432-7. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200205000-00019.
Despite attempts to describe the "ideal" medical ethics curriculum, few data exist describing current practices in medical ethics education to guide curriculum directors. This study aimed to determine the scope and content of required, formal ethics components in the curricula of U.S. medical schools.
A questionnaire sent to all curriculum directors of four-year medical schools in the U.S. (n = 121) requested course syllabi for all required, formal ethics components in the four-year curriculum. Syllabi were coded and analyzed to produce a profile of course objectives, teaching methods, course contents, and methods for assessing students.
Questionnaires were returned by 87 representatives of the schools (72%). A total of 69 (79%) required a formal ethics course, and 58 (84%) provided their ethics course syllabi. Analysis and codification of all syllabi identified ten course objectives, eight teaching methods, 39 content areas, and six methods of assessing students. The means for individual schools were three objectives, four teaching methods, 13 content areas, and two methods of assessment. The 58 syllabi either required or recommended 1,191 distinct readings, only eight of which were used by more than six schools.
Ethics education is far from homogeneous among U.S. medical schools, in both content and extensiveness. While the study of syllabi demonstrates significant areas of overlap with recent efforts to identify an "ideal" ethics curriculum for medical students, several areas of weakness emerged that require attention from medical educators.
尽管人们试图描述“理想的”医学伦理课程，但几乎没有数据描述当前医学伦理教育的实践情况以指导课程主任。本研究旨在确定美国医学院校课程中必修的正式伦理组成部分的范围和内容。
向美国四年制医学院校的所有课程主任（n = 121）发送问卷，要求提供四年课程中所有必修的正式伦理组成部分的课程大纲。对课程大纲进行编码和分析，以得出课程目标、教学方法、课程内容和学生评估方法的概况。
87所学校的代表（72%）回复了问卷。共有69所学校（79%）要求开设正式的伦理课程，58所学校（84%）提供了他们的伦理课程大纲。对所有课程大纲的分析和编码确定了10个课程目标、8种教学方法、39个内容领域和6种学生评估方法。各学校的平均值为3个目标、4种教学方法、13个内容领域和2种评估方法。这58份课程大纲要求或推荐了1191种不同的读物，其中只有8种被超过6所学校使用。
在美国医学院校中，伦理教育在内容和广度上远未达到同质化。虽然对课程大纲的研究表明，与近期为医学生确定“理想的”伦理课程的努力有显著的重叠领域，但也出现了几个需要医学教育工作者关注的薄弱领域。
