Overcoming Ethical Challenges of Bedside Medical Education.

Introduction Bedside teaching has long been a time-honoured component of medical education, and this was emphasised by Sir William Osler, father of modern medicine who once said, “To study the phenomena of disease without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study without patients is not to go to sea at all.” While utilitarian arguments have been used to justify such training, deontological ethics mandate that we do not arbitrarily use teaching subjects as means to an end.1 Patients are under no obligation to participate in medical education and their involvement remains an act of altruism. The moral burden of practising on patients lies with our profession and the challenge is to educate without compromising either the rights or safety of patients.