Should professional ethics education incorporate single-professional or interprofessional learning?

Since ethical issues in the contemporary delivery of health care involve doctors, nurses, technicians, and members of other health professions, the authors consider whether members of diverse health care occupations might benefit from studying ethics in a single classroom. While interprofessional courses may be better at teaching the ethics of the relationships between and among the various health professions, single-professional courses may be better at teaching the ethics of relationships between particular kinds of professionals and patients. An ethics instructor's professional discipline affects his/her credibility with the students, and the course readings may not always be relevant to the actual work of a given discipline. With these challenges in mind, the authors suggest that the boundaries of ethics education in the health professions be reconceived to accommodate the professional mission of a specific discipline as well as the interdependence and collaboration that marks high quality health care.