Ahmet Can Bilgin1, Sevgi Timbil2, Cemal Huseyin Guvercin3, Sema Ozan2, Semih Semin1. 1. Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Izmir, Turkey. 2. Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Education, Izmir, Turkey. 3. Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Izmir, Turkey. Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract
AIM: We aimed to receive the opinions of the preclinical medical students on medical ethics education, and to present some suggestions for the education program. METHODS: Focus group discussions were held with third-grade medical students. The analyses were implemented using Creswell's six-step qualitative data analysis. RESULTS: During the data analysis, themes with the following titles were identified: necessity of the education, content, education methods, assessment, participation, contribution of the education, moving to clinical training and suggestions. DISCUSSION: The students stated that the discussions on movies/books/case-based scenarios are more useful than lectures. Although they believed that student assessment was necessary for the medical ethics education, they had negative attitudes towards Multiple Choice Questions. At the stage of moving to the clinical training, their feelings and thoughts about the learning outcomes they would gain from ethical education were contradictory. CONCLUSION: Each theme and code obtained from the students' expressions may contribute to improving medical ethics education for all institutions. Besides student education, it is also necessary that the faculty develop programs on medical ethics education for clinical teachers. Additionally, further studies can be conducted on the actions that need to be taken to help students internalize the ethical issues and feel the need of learning more.
AIM: We aimed to receive the opinions of the preclinical medical students on medical ethics education, and to present some suggestions for the education program. METHODS: Focus group discussions were held with third-grade medical students. The analyses were implemented using Creswell's six-step qualitative data analysis. RESULTS: During the data analysis, themes with the following titles were identified: necessity of the education, content, education methods, assessment, participation, contribution of the education, moving to clinical training and suggestions. DISCUSSION: The students stated that the discussions on movies/books/case-based scenarios are more useful than lectures. Although they believed that student assessment was necessary for the medical ethics education, they had negative attitudes towards Multiple Choice Questions. At the stage of moving to the clinical training, their feelings and thoughts about the learning outcomes they would gain from ethical education were contradictory. CONCLUSION: Each theme and code obtained from the students' expressions may contribute to improving medical ethics education for all institutions. Besides student education, it is also necessary that the faculty develop programs on medical ethics education for clinical teachers. Additionally, further studies can be conducted on the actions that need to be taken to help students internalize the ethical issues and feel the need of learning more.
Entities:
Keywords:
education; focus group; medical ethics; medical schools