A randomized trial of ethics education for medical house officers.
Open accessAbstract
We report the results of a randomized trial to assess the impact of an innovative ethics curriculum on the knowledge and confidence of 85 medical house officers in a university hospital programme, as well as their responses to a simulated clinical case. Twenty-five per cent of the house officers received a lecture series (Limited Intervention or LI), 25 per cent received lectures and case conferences, with an ethicist in attendance (Extensive Intervention or EI), and 50 per cent served as controls. A post-intervention questionnaire was administered. Knowledge scores did not differ among the groups. Confidence regarding ethical issues was significantly greater in the aggregate intervention group (3.9 on a 1 to 5 scale) compared to the control group (3.6). Confidence regarding procedural issues related to ethics was significantly higher for the EI group than for the controls (4.0 v 2.8). Responses to a simulated case showed that significantly fewer house officers in the EI group would intubate a patient for whom such therapy would be futile (EI = 57 per cent, LI = 87 per cent, Controls = 82 per cent). We conclude that ethics education can have an impact on house officers' confidence and their responses to a simulated case, and that the EI was more effective than the LI. Such results have implications regarding the implementation of ethics education during residency.
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A goal-oriented educational program has been shown to improve learner awareness, attitudes, knowledge, moral reasoning, and confidence.
“A goal-oriented educational program [2] (Table 1) has been shown to improve learner awareness, attitudes, knowledge, moral reasoning, and confidence [3,4].”
From Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice (2021) · cites this paper as [3]
The Knowledge section reports significantly higher confidence after ethics education, particularly among house officers who reported poorer prior preparation. It explicitly says knowledge scores were not significantly affected. The passages do not establish improvements in awareness, attitudes, or moral reasoning. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
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Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice
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- Authors
- Sulmasy, D. P., Geller, G., Levine, D. M., & Faden, R. R.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Ethics
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 1993-09
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 157-163
- ISSN
- 0306-6800 (ISSN-L)
- 1473-4257
- PMC
- PMC1376284
- OpenAlex
- W2107015380
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 4.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Ethics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Johns Hopkins University
- Georgetown University
- National Institutes of Health (5t32hl007180-45)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI-T32 HL07180)
- National Center for Research Resources (RR 00035)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Ethics in medical practice
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics and bioethics in healthcare
- Keywords
- ethics education, medical residents, ethical knowledge, simulated clinical scenarios, case conferences, residency training
- MeSH terms
- Curriculum, Decision Making, Ethics, Medical, Humans, Internship and Residency, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Random Allocation, Schools, Medical, Baltimore, Program Evaluation, Bioethical Issues, Ethicists, Withholding Treatment, Interdisciplinary Communication
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