A study published in the October issue of the Journal of Dental Education reports ethics has declined in dentistry. Shocking! In fact, what actually qualifies as “ethics” education seems to have changed. Shocking! This information was developed by the authors, listed below and administered by the American Society for Dental Ethics. American Society of Dental Ethics!? Who knew?!
I’m wondering if this “Ethics Society” was the impetus to the decline in and redefining of ethics education. Wonder what kind of influence the dental mills and the Dental Group Practice Association (DGPA ) (see below) have of the ethics curriculum? Ethics is something the mills certainly do not want practiced, it hinders production!
Jurisprudence must be in worse shape than ethics, considering all the illegal dental mills openly operating these days! I wonder if there is an American Society of Dental Jurisprudence?
This study was done with data from 2008. 2011 is damn near over!!
Now on with the abstract of the Study:
Abstract:
The survey was sent to the individual who directs the ethics curriculum at the fifty-six U.S. dental schools that had a full complement of enrolled pre-doctoral little time is devoted to ethics instruction in the formal curriculum.classes as of January 2008.
All fifty-six schools responded to the survey. The data suggest that, in general, little time is devoted to ethics instruction in the formal curriculum. The mean number of contact hours of ethics instruction is 26.5 hours, which represents about 0.5 percent of the mean clock hours of instruction for dental education programs reported in the most recent American Dental Association survey of dental education. While the amount of time devoted to ethics instruction appears not to have changed much over the past thirty years, what has changed are what qualifies as ethics instructionwhat has changed are what qualities as ethics instruction, the pedagogies used, and the development and availability of norm-referenced learning outcomes assessments, which are currently used by a number of schools.
We found that dental schools address a substantial list of topics in their ethics instruction and that there is general agreement as to the appropriateness of the topics and the ethics competencies that need to be developed and assessed.
This study also identified the respondents’ perceptions of unmet needs in ethics education. Four general themes emerged: the need for ethics to be more fully integrated across the curriculum, including carryover into the clinical years; the need to assess and ensure competence; the need for faculty development; and the need for more attention to method of instruction.
(Journal of Dental Education, October 2011, Vol. 75:10, pp. 1295-1309).
The Status of Ethics Teaching and Learning in U.S. Dental Schools
Marilyn S. Lantz, D.M.D., Ph.D., M.S.D.,
Muriel J. Bebeau, Ph.D. and
Pamela Zarkowski, J.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Lantz is Professor, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan School of Dentistry;
Dr. Bebeau is Professor, Department of Primary Care, University of Minnesota School of Dentistry;
Prof. Zarkowski is Academic Vice President, University of Detroit Mercy, and Professor, Department of Patient Management, University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry
The DGPA is that nasty little group where the dental mills corporate heads gather to discuss creative dentistry and ways to continue to rape and pillage Americans. It’s mission states, “To enthusiastically represent to the dental “To enthusiastically represent to the dental community the powerful advantages that progressive dental service organizations bring and assist dental professionals to improve the quality of dental care for patients and the quality of life for those dental professionals.” community the powerful advantages that progressive dental service organizations bring and assist dental professionals to improve the quality of dental care for patients and the quality of life for those dental professionals.”
American Society of Dental Ethics- meeting minutes and more
