Teaching Surgical Ethics

Surgical ethics education is essential to the practice of surgery and has an evolving small body of literature. Teaching surgical ethics occurs informally as well as formally. Informal surgical ethics education includes role-modelling, bedside teaching, and the hidden curriculum. Formal surgical ethics education includes modalities such as: lectures, case-based learning, small-group learning, role-play, standardized patients, and ethics morbidity and mortality rounds. In this chapter we identify challenges to implementing ethics education and discuss assessment in surgical ethics education.