Remedial ethics programs for physicians and dentists

Both Bebeau's program for ethics remediation of dentists in Minnesota and ProBE, a nationwide ethics remediation program for physicians and other health professions, grew out of society's concern in the 1960s for responsibility and accountability of those in authority, including professionals. The ProBE program is described, and differences between it and Bebeau's program are highlighted. The ProBE program is a bit shorter in duration and focused on specific, individual ethical violations. It uses tensions--such as the contract between knowing what is right and doing what is wrong--to develop personal insights. A multidisciplinary team of several coaches is used in the ProBE model, and it does not depend on pre- and post-course gain scores. Bebeau's approach may be more readily adapted to predoctoral education, since it is more generic and theoretically based in the Rest model, whereas ProBE is grounded in the real and specific ethical violations of individual practitioners.