Evaluation of a workshop to teach clinical bioethics in the clinical setting

That the teaching of medical ethics must extend into the clinical years in order for medical students to effectively acquire the knowledge and skills required for dealing with clinical bioethical issues has been widely recognized. A limiting factor has been the lack of physicians able to teach bioethics in the clinical setting. This paper describes the structure and evaluation of a workshop for teaching clinicians how to teach bioethics in the clinical setting. 80 physicians participated in 4 workshops in which they were provided with the ethical principles needed to deal with clinical bioethical issues and appropriate teaching methods. Methods such as paper cases, videotaped standardized patient interactions and live standardized patients were presented. The workshops have been highly evaluated. Post workshop evaluation showed that a significant number of physicians taught ethical issues during rounds and seminars. The frequency of teaching ranged from once per month to one or more times per week.