%0 Journal Article
%T Proximity morality in medical school ¨C medical students forming physician morality "on the job": Grounded theory analysis of a student survey
%A Hans O Thulesius
%A Karl Sallin
%A Niels Lynoe
%A Rurik L£¿fmark
%J BMC Medical Education
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6920-7-27
%X Questionnaire survey on attitudes to ethics education with 409 Swedish medical students participating. We analyzed > 8000 words of open-ended responses and multiple-choice questions using classic grounded theory procedures.In this paper we suggest that medical students take a proximity morality stance towards their ethics education meaning that they want to form physician morality "on the job". This involves comprehensive ethics courses in which quality lectures provide "ethics grammar" and together with attitude exercises and vignette reflections nurture tutored group discussions. Goals of forming physician morality are to develop a professional identity, handling diversity of religious and existential worldviews, training students described as ethically naive, processing difficult clinical experiences, and desisting negative role modeling from physicians in clinical or teaching situations, some engaging in "ethics suppression" by controlling sensitive topic discussions and serving students politically correct attitudes.We found that medical students have a proximity morality attitude towards ethics education. Rather than being taught ethics they want to form their own physician morality through tutored group discussions in comprehensive ethics courses.Medical ethics education differs from other subjects and the importance of formal courses in ethics has been questioned [1]. Some medical schools combine instruction in bioethical principles with teaching of humanities programs [2]. The teaching of ethics varies in Swedish medical schools from interspersed lectures to formal ethics courses. Lately, teachers are developing a common national curriculum in the view of a new Swedish university regulation in 2007 to align with European higher education in the Bologna Process [3]. One of three main outcomes of medical education according to the new regulation is ability to understand and assess values and attitudes. Thus, there is a change process underway regarding medica
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/7/27