• Gustavo Rosa Gameiro, Giovana Rosa Gameiro, Bruno Alonso Miotto, GuillouxAline Gil AlvesAGA0000-0002-2760-3720Universidade de São Paulo, Department of Preventive Medicine - São Paulo (SP), Brazil., Alex Jones Flores Cassenote, and Mario César Scheffer.
• Universidade de São Paulo, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Education Development Center, Health Education - São Paulo (SP), Brazil.
• Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2023 Jan 1; 69 (6): e20230108e20230108.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate fresh medical graduates' perceptions regarding the general aspects of ethics teaching in Brazilian medical schools.MethodsA structured questionnaire was applied to 4,601 participants among the 16,323 physicians who registered in one of the 27 Regional Medical Councils of Brazil in 2015. Answers to four questions regarding general aspects of ethics education in medical school were analyzed. Sampling procedures involved two stratification variables: legal nature (public vs. private) of medical schools and monthly household income higher than 10 minimum wages.ResultsA large percentage of the participants had witnessed unethical behaviors during contact with patients (62.0%), toward coworkers (51.5%), and in relationships with patients' families (34.4%) over the course of their medical training. Even though most of the responders (72.0%) totally agreed that patient-physician relationship and humanities education were part of their medical school curriculum, important topics such as conflicts of interest and end-of-life education were not satisfactorily addressed in the participants' medical training. Statistically significant differences were found between the answers of public and private school graduates.ConclusionDespite great efforts to improve medical ethics education, our findings suggest the persistence of deficits and inadequacies in the ethics training currently given in medical schools in Brazil. Further modifications in ethics training must be made to address the deficiencies shown in this study. This process should be accompanied by continuous evaluation.

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