Medical Student Education in Bioethics: A Replicable, Interdisciplinary, Co-Curricular Learning Model
Thursday, October 12, 2023
9:45 AM – 11:00 AM ET
Location: Dover C (Third Floor)
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredits U.S. allopathic medical schools and dictates that the curriculum include medical ethics and instruction in human values to prepare students to enter a residency program.
At a large Midwestern university affiliated with a tertiary healthcare center, a medical ethics learning model was created in 2013 to expand upon curricular offerings. This optional, co-curricular pathway in bioethics includes a mission to create future ethics committee members and clinical consultants. Preclinical students are mentored by faculty members and participate in interprofessional seminars and discussion sessions. Clinical students develop a portfolio of practical ethics expertise by attending ethics committee meetings, engaging in interdisciplinary patient management on the ethics consultation service, and immersing themselves in independent study. Prior to graduation, all students complete a final capstone/impact project, and some elect to become certified as healthcare ethicists due to the variety and volume of the learning opportunities within the track.
This learning model can be replicated across educational institutions to diversify and expand the number of bioethicists and encourage post-graduate medical ethics involvement. We will share guidelines on how to establish the structural framework for a similar program to optimize ethics learning for students, present the demographics of students who have entered our program, discuss how various learning opportunities are facilitated across specialties, enumerate the types of projects that students have completed, and share best practices to prepare trainees for interprofessional ethics engagement in the healthcare setting.
Samantha Lyons, MD HEC-C – Oregon Health and Science University