To advance the standard of neurosurgical practice, neurosurgeons who work in teaching institutions have a duty to educate postgraduate trainees or residents in neurosurgery and generously pass on their skills to ensure that future generations will further improve on them. In addition, trainees are expected to respond with finely tuned respect and compassion to the needs and personal integrity of their patients, placing these above their own self-interest. The promotion of an attitude of a high level of professional conduct and ethics within the training program is essential. Good surgical training focuses on surgical safety. Unsafe surgical practice results in increased patient mortality and morbidity, legal claims against surgeons and distrust of physicians. It may be argued that in an ideal training situation, the risk of complications should not be heightened if the operation is performed by junior doctors under the guidance of senior neurological surgeons. One strategy to decrease the potential risk of training for the safety of patients is an increased use of simulation and laboratory exercises, including cadavers. If ethics education is systematically integrated into surgical residency curricula, there may be improved knowledge and confidence in handling ethical dilemmas, and subsequently improved patient care. Simulation can be integrated into professionalism curricula in various settings and is a valuable tool in resident training and competency-based assessment.