The role of hospitalists in bedside ethics education for medical trainees.

Abstract

Hospitalists are well-positioned to teach ethics to trainees at the bedside, traversing the chasm between preclinical instruction and real-world patient care. This paper proposes a structured, generalizable approach to ethics education for hospitalists. Rooted in principles from the One-Minute Preceptor approach, the NAME framework-Name the ethical issue, Anchor the discussion in ethical standards, Map relevant values and uncertainties, and Engage trainees in supervised action and reflection-emphasizes practical ethical reasoning as an important part of clinical care. This framework is illustrated across common inpatient scenarios to show how hospitalists can explicitly teach ethics without disrupting established structures of rounds.