BACKGROUND: Understanding what staff surgeons think surgical
trainees should learn and the ethical issues that trainees need
to manage can strengthen surgical ethics education. METHODS:
Participants were recruited from the 15 surgical specialty and
subspecialty programs at the University of Toronto.
Semistructured interviews and focus groups were conducted with
13 ethics coordinators from the surgical staff and 64 resident
trainees. Data were analyzed qualitatively using modified
thematic analysis. RESULTS: All coordinators and trainees felt
that ethics education was an important component of surgical
training. Real cases, varying teaching methods, and teachers
with applicable clinical experience were valued. Trainees
identified intraprofessional and interprofessional conflict,
staff behavior perceived to be unethical, and their own lack of
experience as challenging issues rarely addressed in the formal
ethics curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: Ethics education is highly
valued by trainees and teachers. Some ethical is