Evaluation, both of teaching programs themselves and of
individual students, is still in flux. Most formal courses have
included a pass–fail grading system based on class participation
and written exercises, usually either papers or in-class
essay examinations. These efforts convey to students the
importance of medical ethics in the medical school (as has
the addition of questions to the national boards and many of
the specialty boards).
Efforts to develop formal and valid evaluation techniques
have remained hampered, however, by uncertainty
about what specific teaching goals are most important,
about how best to measure whether any of those goals have
in fact been accomplished, and about what is realistic to
expect from ethics courses. (Similar constraints plague efforts
to teach professionalism [Arnold].) Underlying the
challenge of evaluating the impact of teaching medical ethics
is a deeper debate regarding what teaching ethics does.
Ethics as an academic discipline can be taught; one can
evaluate a student’s knowledge of ethical concepts and
cognitive skills. Philosophers in undergraduate ethics courses
have done this for centuries. Most attempts at evaluation in
medical school have tried to measure this aspect of the ethics
curriculum using essay or short-answer tests.
In arguing for the importance of formal ethics education,
teachers of medical ethics typically have emphasized
more ambitious goals, such as improving students’ ability to
address ethical issues in clinical practice or promoting
humanistic qualities such as integrity. Efforts at evaluation,
however, have not always distinguished among residents’
attitudes, knowledge, or behavior. Moreover, there are numerous
methodological problems, particularly in evaluating
ethical behavior or character, problems that are compounded if
one tries to determine whether improvements are attributable
to formal ethics teaching. Some faculty involved in
ethics programs question whether stricter standards of evaluation
should be required of their curricula, arguing that
courses in the traditional areas of anatomy, biochemistry,
and physiology have rarely, if ever, been required to prove
their ultimate effectiveness.
Evaluation, both of teaching programs themselves and of individual students, is still in flux. Most formal courses have included a pass–fail grading system based on
class participation and written exercises, usually either papers or in-class essay examinations. These efforts convey to students the importance of medical ethics in the medical school (as has the addition of questions to the national boards and many of the specialty boards). Efforts to develop formal and valid evaluation techniques have remained hampered, however, by uncertainty about what specific teaching goals are most important,
about how best to measure whether any of those goals have in fact been accomplished, and about what is realistic to expect from ethics courses. (Similar constraints plague efforts to teach professionalism [Arnold].) Underlying the challenge of evaluating the impact of teaching medical ethics is a deeper debate regarding what teaching ethics does. Ethics as an academic discipline can be taught; one can
evaluate a student’s knowledge of ethical concepts and cognitive skills. Philosophers in undergraduate ethics courses have done this for centuries. Most attempts at evaluation in medical school have tried to measure this aspect of the ethics curriculum using essay or short-answer tests. In arguing for the importance of formal ethics education, teachers of medical ethics typically have emphasized
more ambitious goals, such as improving students’ ability to address ethical issues in clinical practice or promoting humanistic qualities such as integrity. Efforts at evaluation, however, have not always distinguished among residents’ attitudes, knowledge, or behavior. Moreover, there are numerous methodological problems, particularly in evaluating ethical behavior or character, problems that are compounded if one tries to determine whether improvements are attributable to formal ethics teaching. Some faculty involved in
ethics programs question whether stricter standards of evaluation
should be required of their curricula, arguing that courses in the traditional areas of anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology have rarely, if ever, been required to prove their ultimate effectiveness.