Educating Emotions to Promote Ethics Education

Abstract

Among physicians, it is common to see reasonable technical training existing alongside a deficient humanistic stance, which resultsin ethical shortcomings and a lack of professionalism. This disparity suggests the need to broaden the scope of medical humanismand to find a new, modern balance particular to today’s world. Teaching bioethics involves setting boundaries and rules but, aboveall, it requires creativity and going beyond what is stipulated in order to do all that is possible for the patient. The question is: Howto combine creativity with the necessary prudence and wisdom required of ethics education? Ethical issues often are surrounded byemotions that cannot be ignored. Rather, they must be contemplated and used, because they are an essential element in the learningprocess. This involves sharing emotions, sheltering them in frank discussions, opening up paths to genuinely constructing emotionsand encouraging empathy towards the patient. Among the modern educational resources that exist to develop emotional educationthe narrative is a particularly important one; that is, listening, telling and sharing stories of life - film and music - representatives ofthe current culture of entertainment, which the authors mention on in light of their teaching experience. Emotions, in and of themselves,are not enough to educate. Skill is required of the teacher to create a situation where emotion is transformed into experience,encourages reflection and is internalized. This process is the catalyst. Taking advantage of the fertile ground of emotion, it leaves aneducational footprint by producing the experience that is the gateway to adopting stable and lasting attitudes.