An innovative approach to teaching ethics and professionalism.

boDieS AnD become ethicAl DentAl prActitionerS.” The recently released Macy Report 1 addresses many of the existing educational challenges in dentistry. Among them are important ethical considerations such as ensuring that teaching, research and services contribute to help reduce oral health disparities and that clinical training includes community-based, patient-centred care.2 Dentists cannot be properly trained to be essential stewards of oral health if the curriculum is solely focused on the technical aspects of clinical dentistry. Professionalism, an ethic of care, interpersonal communication and collaboration with other health care providers are also fundamental components of providing optimum patient care. At the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, we have developed some innovative teaching methods that we believe prepare our students for the challenges of professional practice, allow them to acquire the clinical competencies specified by regulatory bodies and help them to become ethical dental practitioners. It is our hope that through this process, we can also develop strategic partnerships with our graduates as they become ambassadors for dentistry and future supporters of our school. At Schulich Dentistry, we aim to integrate ethics into clinical practice and the educational process itself. Through our undergraduate curriculum, we provide an opportunity for students to incorporate ethical principles and professionalism into their student experience. This should help lay the foundation for our students to develop ethical best practices after graduation. Inculcating Responsibility and Trust from the Start It is incumbent upon dentists to treat patients, staff and colleagues with respect. This is more likely to occur when dental students are themselves treated with dignity and respect during the learning process. Our vision at Schulich Dentistry is to create an environment of mutual respect that begins with the white coat ceremony. Along with their white coats — seen by many as a symbol of trust and respect — students receive and recite their oath of commitment. This highlights the professional obligations of honesty, integrity, compassion and fairness that students must emulate. In the first-year Practice Administration course, students apply the principles of ethics and the core values of the profession in casebased discussions. Case-based teaching encourages students to transform the theoretical into the practical, while being aware of the need for independent assessment when conflicting ethical principles arise. To reinforce lectures on ethics and to prompt classroom discussions, we show videos of standardized patient–dentist interactions, portraying negative and positive examples of clinical situations. According to a 2006 Gallup poll, dentists scored lower than nurses, physicians, pharmacists and veterinarians on a scale measuring honesty and trustworthiness.3 To examine the complexities of these trends, we challenge our first-year students to write essays comparing dentists with other business professionals. We also discuss the effects of the popular media on dentistry, the negative stereotyping of dentists and the exploitation of patients’ fears and anxieties with regard to dental treatment. To combat public misperceptions of dentists’ self-interest, Schulich Dentistry believes that dentists need to aspire to be moral exemplars that have a strong sense of community involvement. An Innovative Approach to Teaching Ethics and Professionalism