Teaching bioethics to future health professionals: a case-based clinical model.

In summary, I believe that ethics teaching based on actual cases, presented in a small-group format led by a clinician and an ethicist, offers the best prospect for achieving these goals. The physician serves as a role model and ensures that information and options are medically accurate. The ethicist helps to identify morally relevant features, can articulate ethical principles, and direct students to the appropriate literature. This method does not guarantee that the behavior of future health professionals will always be humane or ethically sound. But it is likely to get future health professionals to think about what they are doing when they encounter cases that resemble those discussed in teaching conferences devoted to clinical ethics.