The Impact of Bioethics Curriculum for Medical Residents

In simple terms, bioethics is the study of ethical, social and legal issues that arise in biomedicine and biomedical research. It provides guidelines for clinical decision-making and is vital to policy change. Despite standards set by medical entities, significant gaps and variabilities exist within bioethics education for pediatric residents. Every resident will face ethical challenges in their career, so it's important that programs prepare learners to navigate these dilemmas. To address these inconsistencies, a chief resident at the University of Colorado School of Medicine has created a new curriculum that could significantly improve our bioethics education.

Joining us for this episode is Ella Sorscher, MD, Brian Jackson, MD, and Brady Slater, MD. Dr. Sorscher is a pediatrics chief resident at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is one of the brains behind this new bioethics curriculum. Dr. Jackson is the Medical Director of Clinical Ethics and specializes in critical care as a pediatric intensivist at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He is also an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Slater is a pediatrics and medical genetics resident at the CU School of Medicine.

In this episode, our guests discuss expanding bioethics education, including:

• Details about this curriculum at the CU School of Medicine
• The significance of bioethics in a physician’s career
• Information on assessing learners and evaluating the curriculum
• Opportunities for other institutions to learn from this model