Some question whether plastic surgeons bear responsibility for promoting suspect norms of beauty, given that certain types of cosmetic enhancements reinforce common conceptions of normality that are harmful to society.
Reflective learning during and after challenging experiences can be used to foster medical students’ moral development and professional identity formation.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(4):349-356. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.4.medu1-1704.
Michael Hawking, MD, MSc, Farr A. Curlin, MD, and John D. Yoon, MD
Applying a virtue ethics approach—and especially the virtues of courage and compassion—enables clinicians to care appropriately for “difficult” patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(4):357-363. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.4.medu2-1704.
Visual literacy modules can help trainees learn to integrate narrative and visual information in clinical encounters. The medical humanities curriculum at Australia’s Bond University uses art to build students’ diagnostic skills.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(8):843-854. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.8.imhl1-1608.
Nancy Berlinger, PhD and Annalise Berlinger, BSN, RN
Physicians’ reliance on “culture” to explain patients’ noncompliance may serve as code for their discomfort with difference, uncertainty, and distress.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(6):608-616. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.6.msoc1-1706.