Should healthcare professionals be required to take ethics courses in their basic education curriculums?
Dr. Brown: Yes, healthcare professionals should be required to take an ethics course during their basic education. The needs and conditions of the people who enter into the health care context do not allow for purposeless and/or arbitrary decisions. Patients are vulnerable and the threat to their values is very real. Without an ethical background, biomedical professionals may be tempted to take actions that can be justified only through rationalization. An ethical decision-making model such as Symphonology motivates and guides ethical actions; actions that pursue vital and fundamental goals and involve the rights of others. Dr. Goodman: They should be required to take interesting, high-quality ethics courses. Alas, much ethics as it is taught in nursing and medicine curricula is made to be boring, punitive or over simplistic. Ethics is exciting, and competent practitioners need to know about ethical issues and solutions in their professions. Dr. Husted: This entirely depends upon the c
