AimTo investigate if there are differences in medical ethics education between different schools of medicine in Spain, specifically between private and public schools and between recently founded schools and older ones.MethodThe curricula of medical degrees from all Spanish faculties were reviewed for the 2014/2015 academic year, identifying subjects concerning bioethics, deontology, and ethics. We identified the type of teaching, format and method of the course, the number of credits and hours, and the school year of each subject. An analysis with descriptive parameters and the Cohen’s coefficient (d) was performed.ResultsAll medical schools in Spain (n = 44) were included. A mean of 3.64 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits was specifically devoted to ethical values teaching in Spain. Private medical schools offered more credits than public ones (6.51 ECTS vs 2.88 ECTS, relevant difference: d = 2.06>>0.8), and the 10 most recently founded medical schools offered more credits than the 10 oldest (5.86 ECTS vs 2.63 ECTS, relevant difference: d = 1.43 > 0.8). A mean of 36.75 hours was dedicated to ethics education.ConclusionsAlthough ethics education is incorporated into the training of future Spanish physicians, there is still notable heterogeneity between different medical schools in the time devoted to this topic.

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The course loads in terms of credits destined to this skills has increased considerably from 1990 to 2014 (d= 1,43>>0,8). However, it has not been completely established yet the recommendations about this aspect in most of the Spanish MS. The public universities seem to be more aware of this teaching. Furthermore, it would be interesting strengthen this skills in the sixth grade.

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