Enhancing ethical behavior: views of students, administrators, and faculty

In an article published in the April 2004 issue of the Journal of Dental Education, Dr. Charles Bertolami proposed that our ethics curricula don't work due to the limitations of didactic education. He suggested that ethics should be taught as a "precurriculum" course prior to entering dental school and that the dental school ethics course should be elective and consist of small groups of students who are guided to introspection to understand their true self-interest. He argued that "enlightened" self-interest is the best means to motivate students to behave ethically. Our article was stimulated by Bertolami's contentions. Six essays are presented that offer perspectives on the issue of professional ethics and ethics instruction from the viewpoints of students, administrators, and faculty at one dental school. The student essays support the difference between teaching about ethics and changing behavior and discuss the pressures to cheat in dental school. Bertolami's proposition regarding the role of self-interest in ethical decision making is examined. The final essays discuss the ways that ethics curricula and dental schools can encourage students to internalize the values of dentistry. They conclude that while some of Bertolami's propositions may have merit, many do not seem to accomplish the desired goals of inculcating ethics or enhancing ethical behavior in dental students, and they encourage further discussion of ethical instruction.