Teaching bioethics for undergraduate medical students. Shereen A. El Tarhouny 1,2* , Tayseer M. Mansour 3,4 , Ghada A. Wassif 5 , Maha K. Desouky 5 1 Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia 2 Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Saudi Arabia 3 Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia 4 Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Saudi Arabia 5 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia Abstract Teaching bioethics has vast importance for medical student education, which is commonly delivered to undergraduate students using traditional didactic lectures and sometimes small group tutorials. Applying the theoretical knowledge on the daily medical practice and ward-based learning is a challenging task. 12 steps were formulated to help teachers develop their student's skills and attitudes necessary to practice according to ethical perspective, students should demonstrate sensitivity to ethical issues, analyse ethical issues and make ethical decisions in medical practice. Keywords: Bioethics, Medical student, Ethical issues, Medical practice. Accepted on October 13, 2017 Introduction Ethics is the philosophy behind moral or the theoretical basis for moral. Bioethics defined as a significant inspection of the ethical extent of making judgments in medical and biological science situations [1]. Teaching bioethics is a comprehensive and long-term effort helping graduate and undergraduate students to become more fully linked to the roots of their own personal principles [2]. The nature and content of this field and their interrelationship remains puzzled and unclear, and that ambiguity, in turn, impairs the efficiency of medical education process. This indistinctness encourages more argument over designing curriculum, teaching and assessment methods, staff responsible delivering the course. Today, we also come across greatly different views on the tackles, regulations, and skills that are innate in medical ethics itself. Some see medical ethics as an interdisciplinary field and provoke humanists of every persuasion, assorted health professionals, and multiculturalists to join their ranks and contribute to their deliberations. Others see medical ethics as a demanding specialty that brings the insights of philosophers to bear on contemporary clinical dilemmas arising from dramatic advances in medical technology and knowledge. And others see philosophers as having nothing especially distinctive or valuable to contribute to the field [3]. The formal inclusion of medical ethics education in the medical curriculum has produced a growing number of ethics curricula. Within these curricula there have been a diversity of goals and methods used. While it is recognized that there is no single, best model for medical ethics education, consensus is developing on the design of ethics undergraduate curricula [4-6]. So, we aimed in this paper to map 12 steps for developing and applying ethics curricula at health professions institution. These steps will be as follows: Step 1: Define Needs Assessment Begin by asking teachers and program directors questions about their target students and their goals: Who will be the students? at which level will they be learning these courses? Why are you teaching these courses? How much time be offered to deliver these courses, and how will that time be organized? What is the contents should be included? what is he proper teaching method should be used? The answers, with respect to teaching medical ethics, will differ significantly. So, you have to be very specific about your course [7]. Step 2: Setting Goals and Objectives for the Curriculum Although the medical ethics is a well-defined subject and has common core topics, but there are many aims and objectives that each course could generate. Since 1989, Miles et al. [6] identified the compromise which had developed to enhance teaching medical ethics. accordingly, the following aims were listed: 1. To teach doctors to recognize the humanistic and ethical aspects of medical careers. ISSN 0970-938X www.biomedres.info 9840 Biomedical Research 2017; 28 (22): 9840-9844 Biomed Res 2017 Volume 28 Issue 22