Current trends in medical ethics education.

The unprecedented progress in biomedical sciences and technology during the last few decades has resulted in great transformations in the concepts of health and disease, health systems and healthcare organization and practices. Those changes have been accompanied by the emergence of a broad range of ethical dilemmas that confront the health professionals more frequently in an increasing range of problems and situations. Health care that has been practiced for centuries on the basis of a direct doctor-patient relationship has been increasingly transformed to a more complex process integrating the health-team, the patient (healthcare seeker) and the community. Systematic review of the specialized literature revealed that Healthcare Ethics Education became a basic requirement for any training program for health professionals, and should cover the different stages of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education. Both theoretical foundations and practical skills are required for the appropriate ethical reasoning, ethical attitude and decision-making. There is growing evidence that physicians' professional and moral development is not determined by the formal curriculum of ethics, rather more, it is determined by the moral environment of the professional practice, the "hidden curriculum" which deserves serious consideration by medical educators.