RETENTION OF MORAL REASONING SKILLS OVER THE 4 YEARS OF MEDICAL-EDUCATION

Background: There has been increased interest in moral reasoning of me dical students. No longitudinal studies have addressed retention of th ese skills. Purpose: This study was conducted to demonstrate whether m oral reasoning skills developed in a medical ethics course would be re tained in subsequent years. Methods: The Defining Issues Test was used for assessment of moral reasoning. First-year students were pretested , taught a medical ethics course during the 1st semester, and posttest ed at the end of the 4 subsequent years. Results: After documenting th e significantly increased, p less than or equal to .00025, moral reaso ning skills, this study demonstrates retention of these moral reasonin g skills at the end of 2nd year, p less than or equal to .00001; 3rd y ear, p less than or equal to .00001; and 4th year of medical education , p less than or equal to .00001. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the reaching of medical ethics can be rigorously measured and tes ted and that it can have a sustained positive influence on the moral r easoning skills of medical students.