Over the past century, six studies – the most recent data from 2000 – and one review have comprehensively examined the content of medical oaths and oath-taking practices, all focusing on North America, providing an insight into the ethical beliefs of each era. Our study sought to establish a new point of reference. In 2014/2015, oaths from 150 of all 153 US and Canadian medical schools were collected and analyzed. All but one school administered medical oaths and most schools administered more than one. Since 2000, student-written oaths became more popular, and new themes, such as self-care and professionalism, were identified in the oaths for the first time. However, as was identified in 2000, the oaths’ contents are disparate and even conflicting at times, raising questions as to whether medicine is being taught or practiced with a coherent ethical worldview.

在过去的一个世纪里，六项研究（2000 年的最新数据）和一项综述全面审视了医疗宣誓和宣誓实践的内容，所有这些都集中在北美，提供了对每个时代的道德信仰的洞察。我们的研究试图建立一个新的参考点。2014/2015 年，我们收集并分析了美国和加拿大 153 所医学院中 150 所医学院的誓言。除一所学校外，所有学校都进行了医疗宣誓，大多数学校都进行了不止一次宣誓。2000年以来，学生书写誓言变得更加流行，自我保健和职业精神等新主题也随之出现。，首次在宣誓中被确定。然而，正如 2000 年所指出的那样，誓言的内容各不相同，有时甚至是相互冲突的，这引发了人们的疑问：医学的教学或实践是否具有连贯的道德世界观。