Supporting the moral development of medical students
- 1 July 2000
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Journal of General Internal Medicine
- Vol. 15 (7), 503-508
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.2000.06298.x
Abstract
Philosophers who studied moral development have found that individuals normally progress rapidly in early adulthood from a conventional stage in which they base behavior on the norms and values of those around them to a more principled stage where they identify and attempt to live by personal moral values. Available data suggest that many medical students, who should be in this transition, show little change in their moral development. Possibly, this relates to perceived pressures to conform to the informal culture of the medical wards. Many students experience considerable internal dissidence as they struggle to accommodate personal values related to empathy, care, and compassion to their clinical training. Educational interventions that positively influence this process have established regular opportunities for critical reflection by the students in small groups. Other interventions include faculty development to enhance role modeling and feedback by clinical faculty. The author espouses more widespread adoption of these educational interventions.Keywords
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- The habit of humanismAcademic Medicine, 1999
- Toward creating physician-healersAcademic Medicine, 1999
- Medical studentsʼ empathic understanding of their patientsAcademic Medicine, 1998
- Promoting Ethical Reasonings Affect and Behaviour Among High School Students: an evaluation of three teaching strategiesJournal of Moral Education, 1997
- The Impact of Role Models on Medical StudentsJournal of General Internal Medicine, 1997
- Characteristics of the informal curriculum and traineesʼ ethical choicesAcademic Medicine, 1996
- The influence of the New Pathway curriculum on Harvard medical studentsAcademic Medicine, 1994
- Effects of communication skills training on students' diagnostic efficiencyMedical Education, 1991
- Teaching medical ethics in its contextsAcademic Medicine, 1989
- ArroganceNew England Journal of Medicine, 1980