Ethics and child and adolescent psychiatry : curricular design and clinical teaching

This article describes the development and experience of one child and adolescent psychiatry training program's approach to the creation and content of an ethics curriculum. Currently, a series of lecture-discussions covering ethics and forensic subjects are presented during the first year. Ethical principles, models, and reasoning are introduced, and their knowledge is deemed important to arrive at sensible resolutions of clinical dilemmas. Simultaneously, an emphasis on discussion of ethical dimensions of cases is expected during conferences, clinical experiences, and supervision throughout the 2 years of training. This article presents an analysis of one case for illustration. In addition, questions educators should consider prior to curriculum construction, related to the goals of instruction in ethics, are reviewed.