Teaching medical ethics in critical care

Integrating clinical ethics content into the critical care curriculum is challenging because of the other demands of the rotation. Yet, ethical dilemmas occur frequently in this setting, providing justification for the importance of this content. Critical care ethics education must be a part of an integrated program in medical ethics for residents. Topics with specific relevance to critical care include informed consent issues, surrogate decision-making, end-of-life care, and considerations about the use of resources. Teaching ethics will be enhanced by an environment that supports ethical practice and by the participation and reinforcement of the critical care faculty. Topics specific to critical care can be taught using a variety of methods, including didactic, case-based, and informal methods. Faculty can be drawn from trained ethicists, clinician teachers with a grounding in medical ethics, and individuals from the ethics committee or consult service.