Description of an ethics curriculum for a medicine residency program

Abstract

This paper examines the attempts to develop and implement an ethics curriculum for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The objectives of the curriculum were to enhance moral reasoning skills and to promote humanistic attitudes and behavior among the residents. The diverse methodologies used to achieve these objectives included case discussions, literature reading, role playing, writing, and videos. These activities occurred predominantly within the forum of morning report sessions and ethics ward rounds. The author also describes efforts to overcome the initial constraints associated with the implementation of this curriculum and concludes by exploring future directions for the curriculum.