An ethics curriculum for the pediatric residency program. Confronting barriers to implementation
D. S. Diekema and R. P. Shugerman
Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle, USA.
BACKGROUND: The 1997 Residency Review Committee requirements in pediatrics
mandate a structured curriculum in medical ethics for all accredited
pediatric residency programs. To our knowledge, there are no published
models for the development of an ethics curriculum for pediatric residents.
Several obstacles may confront those attempting to begin an ethics teaching
program. OBJECTIVE: To describe the successful implementation of a
structured ethics curriculum for pediatric residents. METHODS: Our program
was designed to overcome the following obstacles: (1) time constraints of
faculty and residents, (2) scheduling difficulties and lack of continuity,
(3) attitudes of residents toward the material, and (4) inadequate ethics
training among faculty. In addition to traditional topics in medical
ethics, the curriculum focuses on issues that confront residents primarily
during their training, issues that may shape their professional values in
important ways. RESULTS: This ethics curriculum has been successfully
implemented in our own program and offers solutions to common barriers
faced by those seeking to implement an ethics curriculum for pediatric
residents. CONCLUSION: We present the ethics curriculum currently in use at
our institution as a tool that may be adopted as it stands or as altered by
others as they develop their own program's ethics curriculum. We believe
the proposed curriculum directly confronts many of the barriers to
successful ethics education of pediatric residents.
