A model for faculty development and continuing education in medical ethics: medicine and humanities consultations
Self, D.J.; Koenig, C.L.
Texas Medicine 87(2): 91-95
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0040-4470 PMID: 2031238 Document Number: 373498
Despite the significant increase in teaching medical ethics to medical students and residents, little has been done to train teaching faculty and community practicing physicians in medical-ethical decision making. The Medicine and Humanities Consultation Series described here has been a successful model for faculty development in helping practicing physicians with such decision making. The consultations among clinical physicians and humanities scholars were held about every 3 months at an off-campus site to remove the participants from professional intrusions. The 8-hour consultations, conducted informally, addressed social and ethical topics concerning medical practice. Several preselected short articles were distributed to the participants 2 weeks prior to the consultations. Each consultation was led by a visiting guest leader who was sometimes a physician but usually a humanities scholar. This model has been implemented successfully in both Virginia and Texas under very different circumstances. Physicians reported being more comfortable with their ethical decision making--not in terms of what to decide but in terms of how to decide. The consultations enriched the participants' funds of knowledge and their methods of thinking.