A spoonful of care ethics: the challenges of enriching medical education

Background:Nursing Ethics has featured several discussions on what good care comprises and how to achieve good care practices. We should “nurse” ethics by continuously reflecting on the way we “do” ethics, which is what care ethicists have been doing over the past few decades and continue to do so. Ethics is not limited to nursing but extends to all caring professions. In 2011, Elin Martinsen argued in this journal that care should be included as a core concept in medical ethical terminology because of “the harm to which patients may be exposed owing to a lack of care in the clinical encounter,” specifically between doctors and patients. However, Martinsen leaves the didactical challenges arising from such a venture open for further enquiry.Objectives:In this article, we explore the challenges arising from implementing care-ethical insights into medical education.Research design:Medical education in the Netherlands is investigated through a “care-ethical lens”. This means exploring the possibility of enri...