Educating tomorrow’s osteopaths and the crucial role of ethics teaching. Where we are now? A position paper of the Italian Academy of Osteopathic Medicine

The clinical and research contexts in which health care is provided are increasingly characterized by new challenges for health professionals, who often find themselves confronted with moral questions, which are not rare phenomena and therefore deserve special attention. Due to their more holistic approach to medicine, osteopaths may face a broad range of ethical dilemmas. A framework of ethics analysis specifically tailored for osteopathic medicine is needed to provide practical guidance for students and future practitioners. Italian law has recently recognized osteopathy as a health profession requiring a three-year university degree or an equivalent qualification. Consequently, Italian academies and universities that will offer osteopathic education in the near future should align their curricula with other healthcare professional’s education programs. Despite a widespread adoption of medical ethics curricula and the publication of several helpful reviews on ethics education, in the case of osteopathic medicine many questions remain about the nature, goals, and outcomes of ethics programs. The Italian Academy of Osteopathic Medicine (AIMO), with the support of the Research Center for Clinical Ethics (CREC), has recently undertaken the task of providing adequate training in medical ethics for its students. The aim of this article is to design and describe an ethics education program perfectly fitted for osteopathic profession through the analysis of key aspects such as quality and quantity of ethics instruction, type and format of ethics courses, teaching topics, methods and learning outcomes.