Making the Rounds The Ethical Development of Medical Students in the Context of Clinical Rotations

The social context in which medical students encounter ethical quandaries is examined, with particular focus on the hierarchy of authority and power that exists in hospital medicine, to enable students to maintain and nurture their ethical self-identity.

Abstract

If medical schools (and, for that matter, postgraduate training\nprograms as well) are to address their charge of promoting ethical behavior\nseriously, they need to move beyond static conceptions of "core values." They\nmust replace stifling notions of "ethical homunculi" and "linear ethical\ngrowth" with models of dynamic value-systems, of ethical selves that develop\nin sympathy with the social and cultural context of modern hospital practice. \nThey must recognize that the ethical dilemmas of students contain social and\ncultural elements combined in an emotive mixture, and that it is therefore\nmisguided to address their dilemmas simply through analytic discussions of\nethical principles at the bedside or in ethics grand rounds.