This essay examines the concepts of ‘professionalism’ and ‘ethics’ as they are used in health professions education and, in particular, medical education. It proposes that, in order to make sense of the construct of ‘professional ethics,’ it would be helpful to conceive of professionalism and ethics as overlapping but not identical spheres. By allowing for areas of professionalism that are not directly pertinent to ethics, and areas of ethics that are not directly pertinent to the professional sphere, ‘professional ethics’ as (...) a focus of medical education can come into sharper relief. The essay argues that professional ethics should be understood not only in relation to major ethical issues such as end-of-life decisions, but also in relation to everyday actions and decisions. The essay ends by raising questions about how and by whom professional ethics is best taught. (shrink)

The awareness of educators in the health sciences with respect to promoting ethical conduct when instructing dental students is reflected in the undergraduate curriculum. This study is intended to discover the different ways these subjects are taught. A manual review of the literature published in databases indexed in SciELO during the years from 1999 to 2014 was done to that end, under the heading health sciences, humanities, applied social sciences, specifically literature that can be accessed in full, free of charge (...) and anonymously. Also reviewed was the literature in two specialized journals in the area of health education; namely, the Journal of Dental Education and the Journal of Medical Education, with the same titles, during the same period, and through the PubMed search engine, via Medline. The results show 43 articles of thematic relevance. The conclusion is that education in bioethics, as part of the undergraduate curriculum at dental schools, is increasing and differs according to the educational and cultural environment where it is imparted. Case-based learning and problem-based learning are mentioned as being the most efficient methods of instruction. Training dentists to be well-rounded professionals requires these subjects to be taught by interdisciplinary teams that are sufficiently prepared to do so. (shrink)