Retention of moral reasoning skills over the four years of medical education

Background: There has been increased interest in moral reasoning of medical students. No longitudinal studies have addressed retention of these skills. Purpose: This study was conducted to demonstrate whether moral reasoning skills developed in a medical ethics course would be retained in subsequent years. Methods: The Defining Issues Test was used for assessment of moral reasoning. First‐year students were pretested, taught a medical ethics course during the 1st semester, and posttested at the end of the 4 subsequent years. Results: After documenting the significantly increased, p ≤.00025, moral reasoning skills, this study demonstrates retention of these moral reasoning skills at the end of 2nd year, p ≤ .00001; 3rd year, p ≤. 00001; and 4th year of medical education, p ≤ .00001. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the teaching of medical ethics can be rigorously measured and tested and that it can have a sustained positive influence on the moral reasoning skills of medical students.