Teaching and assessment of ethics and professionalism: a survey of pediatric program directors.
OBJECTIVE
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires residency programs to provide instruction in and evaluation of competency in ethics and professionalism. We examined current practices and policies in ethics and professionalism in pediatric training programs, utilization of newly available resources on these topics, and recent concerns about professional behavior raised by social media.


METHODS
From May to August 2012, members of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors identified as categorical program directors in the APPD database were surveyed regarding ethics and professionalism practices in their programs, including structure of their curricula, methods of trainee assessment, use of nationally available resources, and policies regarding social media.


RESULTS
The response rate was 61% (122 of 200). Most pediatric programs continue to teach ethics and professionalism in an unstructured manner. Many pediatric program directors are unaware of available ethics and professionalism resources. Although most programs lack rigorous evaluation of trainee competency in ethics and professionalism, 30% (35 of 116) of program directors stated they had not allowed a trainee to graduate or sit for an examination because of unethical or unprofessional conduct. Most programs do not have formal policies regarding social media use by trainees, and expectations vary widely.


CONCLUSIONS
Pediatric training programs are slowly adopting the educational mandates for ethics and professionalism instruction. Resources now exist that can facilitate curriculum development in both traditional content areas such as informed consent and privacy as well as newer content areas such as social media use.
Medical Education Research, Innovation, Teaching and Scholarship Program, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Ill; MacLean Center for Clinical Medial Ethics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
Alyssa F
AF
Cook
Sarah A
SA
Sobotka
Lainie F
LF
Ross
D000328:Adult; D001675:Bioethics / Q000193:education*; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000193:education; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*; D008486:Physician Executives
ethics; graduate medical education; pediatrics; professionalism; residency