Educational intervention is effective in improving knowledge and confidence in surgical ethics-a prospective study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Ethics
• Professionalism in Medicine

Background:

• Professionalism and ethics are core competencies mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
• Limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of current ethics education for medical professionals.
• Surgical residents frequently encounter complex ethical challenges during training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the American College of Surgeons ethics curriculum.
• To assess the impact of ethics education on surgical residents' knowledge and confidence.
• To determine resident perceptions of ethics training in surgical residency.

Main Methods:

• General surgery residents at the University of Pittsburgh participated in the study.
• Residents completed pre- and post-seminar questionnaires on surgical ethics.
• Four 60-minute faculty-facilitated seminars were conducted using the American College of Surgeons ethics curriculum.

Main Results:

• Residents reported frequent ethical challenges, including end-of-life issues (100%) and surrogate decision-making (91%).
• The ethics curriculum significantly increased residents' knowledge of surgical ethics (P = .013).
• Confidence in managing ethical issues like truth-telling (P = .013) and confidentiality (P = .011) improved significantly.

Conclusions:

• Focused ethics instruction using the American College of Surgeons curriculum is effective.
• The curriculum enhances both knowledge and confidence in addressing surgical ethics.
• Residents viewed the ethics education as a valuable and standard component of residency training.