Education

Resident surgical ethics education: CHESS supports the surgical ethics education of the general surgery residents in the Department of Surgery at WashU Medicine. The surgical ethics curriculum for the general surgery residents includes discussion of the basic principles of bioethics, informed consent in surgery, difficult conversations, goals of care, and end of life care. The curriculum also hosts ethics-focused Morbidity and Mortality conference every three months where an ethical case is discussed and analyzed in a public forum within the department. This curriculum is led by Dr. Maggie Spruce.
The Good Surgeon project: The Good Surgeon project aims to explore humanistic and reflective dimensions of surgical practice through a year-long curriculum that includes literature, narrative medicine, artwork and other mediums from across the humanities. This project is a multi-institutional collaboration and the WashU Medicine chapter is led by Dr. Matthew Rosengart and Dr. Kathryn Rowland.

Medical student surgical ethics education: CHESS fosters the moral development of students and the ethics curriculum of WashU Medicine. Medical students participate in surgical ethics informed consent discussions and small group case studies as part of their surgical clerkship rotation. This curriculum is led by Dr. Maggie Spruce and Dr. Kathryn Rowland.
Medical student surgical ethics elective: Ethical Challenges in Surgery allows medical students to more fully explore clinical surgical ethics. The goal of the elective is to encourage students to integrate attention to the ethical dimensions of care into their future career as physicians, researchers, and educators. Students are encouraged to pursue a challenging surgical ethical case of interest, perform a robust clinical ethical analysis, and prepare a summative document. Led by Dr. Aisling Last.

Ira J. Kodner, MD Annual Lecture in Surgical Ethics: The annual Kodner lecture in surgical ethics supports national leaders to present on emerging topics in surgical clinical ethics. The lecture honors the work of Dr. Ira J. Kodner, a WashU Medicine surgeon emeritus, national leader and pioneer in the development of the specialty of colorectal surgery, surgical ethics, and ethics education.