Interim ACD Gies Ethics Project Report Is Professionalism a Contact Sport or a Spectator Sport?.

Abstract

This presentation is an interim report on the American College of Dentists Gies Ethics Project. Following the example of William Gies, our work has been grounded in empirical studies, with progress on the first 11 projects summarized here. The following general patterns are beginning to emerge: (a) the traditional model of individual dentists guided by abstract principles seems to exhibit some inadequacies; (b) ethical cases suggest that patients and dentists hold common views or what should be done and why in some areas but they diverge in others; (c) dentists place high value on technical excellence and income and relatively less on ethics and oral health outcomes; (d) ethics education in dental schools has not achieved the status of a discipline and is showing signs of receiving less attention than in recent years; (e) focus groups of both patients and dentists are concerned that private standards that differ across dentists as to what constitutes appropriate care are eroding trust in the profession, both among dentists and between dentists and patients; (f) recent economic trends highlight growing fragmentation within the profession; (g) practice is losing its direct relationship with patients as it becomes more commercial; (h) dentists are confused about their role in self-regulation and thus compromising public trust; (i) dentists seem to be willing to tolerate a significant number of their colleagues cutting corners; (j) educating individual dentists about ethical theory is unlikely to be effective in bringing about needed professional behavior. Based on this preliminary evidence, it may very well be the case that the ACD Gies Ethics Projects makes recommendations such as the following: (a) improving the ethical tone of the profession will require changes at the organizational as well as the individual level; (b) standards may be more effective if shared among dentists and with the public;