RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Talking about cases in bioethics: the effect of an intensive course on health care professionals JF Journal of Medical Ethics JO J Med Ethics FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP 131 OP 136 DO 10.1136/jme.26.2.131 VO 26 IS 2 A1 Janet I Malek A1 Gail Geller A1 Jeremy Sugarman YR 2000 UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/26/2/131.abstract AB Educational efforts in bioethics are prevalent, but little is known about their efficacy. Although previous work indicates that courses in bioethics have a demonstrable effect on medical students, it has not examined their effect on health care professionals. In this report, we describe a study designed to investigate the effect of bioethics education on health care professionals. At the Intensive Bioethics Course, a six-day course held annually at Georgetown University, we administered a questionnaire requiring open-ended responses to vignettes both before and after the course. Following the course, respondents defended their responses more carefully and articulated their thoughts more clearly. In addition, after the course respondents seemed to have a more subtle understanding of the relevant issues in the cases and applied theory to these cases more frequently. These findings help to formulate an understanding of the effect of bioethics education on health care professionals.