The status of ethics education in Australasian psychiatry.

Abstract

To determine to what extent ethics is taught and how it is taught to psychiatrists-in-training across Australasia. Anonymous mail-out survey of training directors. The questionnaire was completed by 23 of 25 training directors (response rate = 92%) who reported on 625 trainee psychiatrists. Individual one-to-one case supervision was adopted by 96% of the programs for teaching ethics; formal teaching in seminars or lectures was chosen as the second most common method in 70% of programs. Topics most commonly taught in formal seminars were so taught in only 70% of programs or less. A uniform curriculum in psychiatric ethics is needed. The results are discussed in relation to identified needs for improvement.