Graduate and postgraduate medical ethics education

ABSTRACT

This article provides an overview of medical ethics education for practicing doctors in Korea, focusing on its aims, objectives, content, pedagogical methods, educators, and key issues and challenges for future development. Education on medical ethics for practicing doctors in Korea started relatively recently on a small scale, based on the initiative of a few specialty boards. Currently, no formal aims and objectives for medical ethics education for practicing doctors have been proposed, and no formalized curricula have been developed by any specialty boards or by the Korean Medical Association. In the educational programs that currently exist, lectures are the predominant teaching method, and only a few educators who are doctors specializing in medical ethics deliver all those lectures. Thus, there are many issues and challenges in the Korean medical environment that must be thoroughly investigated and overcome. Nevertheless, medical ethics is an integral part of the medical profession and should be taught at all levels of training, including undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate.