Teaching ethics in the operating theatre by small group teaching

Ethics is an important topic for theatre staff. They work in a multidisciplinary team usually with an unconscious patient. Ethical dilemmas can often arise during elective and emergency surgery.

The teaching of ethics for this arena is often neglected in favour of covering other surgical skills. There is some evidence from studies of surgical specialties that doctors do not feel confident in applying their training in ethics in the clinical environment.

This paper suggests a format and describes teaching tools for conducting classroom small group teaching sessions on ethics suitable for the whole theatre team. It outlines some strategies that can be used to stimulate debate, and suggested ground rules to run the session smoothly.

Teaching of ethics at undergraduate level can be reinforced by such small group sessions during clinical placements. A short time spent in the classroom discussing such issues is of great benefit to medical staff and patients in this often forgotten, but vitally important topic.