Proto-professionalism and the dissecting laboratory.
This essay argues for medical students' dissection of cadavers because this activity offers medical students opportunities to have certain experiences and reflect on them in ways facilitating their development of mature medical professionalism at the time they enter clinical practice. Issues central to professionalism as we envision it are (1) cognitive abilities identified as reflective judgment and principled ethical reasoning as they are exercised in four practice domains and (2) learning to learn in medical settings. We argue further that a key feature of such setting is practitioners' having to deal with ill-structured problems, and so we identify their features and relate their management to the sophisticated cognitive and learning abilities required of medical professionals.
Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Health Science, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks 58202, USA, and Division of Community Health Sciences, St. George's Hospital Medical School, University of London, UK. hbslotnick@medicine.nodak.edu
Henry B
HB
Slotnick
Sean R
SR
Hilton
D000715:Anatomy / Q000193:education* / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods; D004210:Dissection / Q000941:ethics; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000193:education; D007753:Laboratories / Q000941:ethics; D007858:Learning; D035863:Moral Development; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods; D011361:Professional Competence; D013337:Students, Medical