[Practice-based reflections on medical school seminars on literature and ethics]

In this reflective practice paper, the author reports on his supervisorship of medical students in their small-group literature and ethics discussion seminars during the first five semesters at medical school in Linköping, Sweden. To ensure an open dialogue, it seems important to help students distinguish between genuinely complex medical ethical questions, on which reasonable people may have different opinions, and extremist viewpoints. Furthermore, the seminar discussions can help students realize the difference between law and ethics. Finally, the value of helping students verbalize their (often) intuitive ethical views is emphasized. In this context, a distinction is made between conversation and debate. A conversation, unlike a debate, is not about winning. Verbalizing their own views in a safe non-debate setting helps students understand the perspective of fellow students.