Moral Diversity for Medical Trainees

Perspect Biol Med. 2024;67(3):424-436. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2024.a936219.

Abstract

While the proliferation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives among medical schools and residency training programs has provided important benefits of demographic and experiential diversity among medical trainees, there has not been a similar emphasis upon the importance of moral diversity in medical training. Enhanced attention to the importance of moral diversity and the centrality of conscience to medical practice might allow trainees to better interface with the morally diverse patients they serve, learn important virtues like humility, patience, and tolerance, and deepen their understanding of and appreciation for alternative moral viewpoints among their fellow practitioners.

MeSH terms

  • Conscience
  • Cultural Diversity*
  • Education, Medical / ethics
  • Ethics, Medical / education
  • Humans
  • Internship and Residency / ethics
  • Morals*
  • Schools, Medical
  • Students, Medical / psychology