Ethics education: curricular considerations for the allied health disciplines

Consensus has not been reached on the philosophy, the purpose, and the pedagogy of ethics education. This paper examines elements that should be considered in the curricular design of ethics education. The paper synthesizes the literature on the content, the structure, the faculty, the pedagogical strategies, and the evaluation methods of ethics education. The author recommends a curricular design that incorporates ethical theory, decision making, and practical application through case studies of moral issues in allied health practice. The structure of this course of study is a discrete ethics course with additional ethics modules integrated throughout the professional curriculum.