A longitudinal ethics curriculum for medical students and generalist residents at the Medical College of Georgia

Medical ethics is an important instructional area for both the undergraduate student pursuing a generalist education and generalist residents. With the support of a Generalist Physician Initiative (GPI) award from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Medical College of Georgia has implemented a longitudinal experience in clinical ethics spanning the four undergraduate years to make this area more meaningful and clinically relevant. This report outlines the structure and content of this four-year curriculum, which has been developed and implemented in a stepwise fashion since 1996. Course themes and students' activities during the four years are described. Since 1997, a shared curriculum in ethics--developed for residents in internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatric generalist programs--has been provided in combined interdepartmental conferences as part of a broader interdepartmental generalist curriculum. Early evaluation findings and plans for future evaluation programs are also described.