The status of ethics education in obstetrics and gynecology.

To establish the present status of ethics education in obstetrics and gynecology, 256 questionnaires were sent to residency (graduate) and student (undergraduate) education programs. One hundred ninety-eight questionnaires were returned. Fifteen programs offered no ethics education; 167 offered resident level courses; 123 offered undergraduate (student) level courses; and 84 offered postgraduate education. The median number of hours offered was 2 undergraduate, 4 graduate, and 2 postgraduate. The courses offered relied primarily on formal lecture presentation, even though this was not considered most effective by the respondents. Most institutions (85%) used more than one fotmat to present ethics material. General ethics principles were covered in 78% of the reporting institutions