Interdisciplinary Ethics Certificate Program for Graduate Medical Education Trainees

Ethics education is an essential component of developing physician competency and professionalism. Although prior studies have shown both a wide interest and a need for ethics education during residency, structured learning opportunities are not widely available at the graduate medical education (GME) level.

Through the Vanderbilt Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, we developed a 1-year certificate program offering a Distinction in Biomedical Ethics, open to all active trainees in GME programs at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. This certificate program provides advanced education in biomedical ethics and can be completed without additional cost to the trainee or time away from training.

This certificate program has been offered each academic year since 2017-2018. The program curriculum includes case-based seminars, a rotation on the Ethics Consultation Service, participation on the hospital ethics committee, and a capstone project. Outcomes were assessed using a post-course evaluation.

During the first 4 years of the program, 65 trainees participated from 19 different specialties. Course evaluations were obtained from 58 participants (89.4% response rate) and were strongly favorable in most domains. All participants agreed that this program enhanced their knowledge of biomedical ethics and they would use something they learned in their future practice. Most participants (57 of 58, 98.3%) would recommend this course to a friend.

We designed and implemented a Distinction in Biomedical Ethics program to provide advanced training in clinical Bioethics, which has been favorably received by participants.