Teaching and assessing medical ethics: where are we now?
- 1Institute of Clinical Education, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, UK
- 2Institute of Clinical Education, Peninsula Medical School, Plymouth, UK
- Correspondence to: Karen Mattick Institute of Clinical Education, Peninsula Medical School, St Luke’s Campus, University of Exeter, Heavitree Road, Exeter EX1 2LU, UK; karen.mattick{at}pms.ac.uk
- Received 29 September 2005
- Accepted 27 November 2005
Abstract
Objectives: To characterise UK undergraduate medical ethics curricula and to identify opportunities and threats to teaching and learning.
Design: Postal questionnaire survey of UK medical schools enquiring about teaching and assessment, including future perspectives.
Participants: The lead for teaching and learning at each medical school was invited to complete a questionnaire.
Results: Completed responses were received from 22/28 schools (79%). Seventeen respondents deemed their aims for ethics teaching to be successful. Twenty felt ethics should be learnt throughout the course and 13 said ethics teaching and learning should be fully integrated horizontally. Twenty felt variety in assessment was important and three tools was the preferred number. A shortfall in ethics core competencies did not preclude graduation in 15 schools. The most successful aspects of courses were perceived to be their integrated nature and the small group teaching; weaknesses were described as a need for still greater integration and the heavily theoretical aspects of ethics. The major concerns about how ethics would be taught in the future related to staffing and staff development.
Conclusions: This study describes how ethics was taught and assessed in 2004. The findings show that, although ethics now has an accepted place in the curriculum, more can be done to ensure that the recommended content is taught and assessed optimally.
Footnotes
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↵i Summative—and formative—assessment are educational terms that perhaps should be explained for some readers. Summative assessments are typically used to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programmes at the end of a period of teaching—for example, at the end of the academic year—and aim to make a judgment of student competency. Formative assessments are ongoing assessments that can provide feedback that can shape learning while it is in progress.
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Funding: The Institute of Medical Ethics
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Survey carried out on behalf of the project steering committee of the Institute of Medical Ethics: Kenneth Boyd, Raanan Gillon, Tony Pinching, Margaret Lloyd, Tony Hope, Alastair Campbell, and Ann Sommerville.
