Article Text
Abstract
A multidisciplinary faculty committee designed a curriculum to shape biomedical graduate students into researchers with a high commitment to professionalism and social responsibility and to provide students with tools to navigate complex, rapidly evolving academic and societal environments with a strong ethical commitment. The curriculum used problem-based learning (PBL), because it is active and learner-centred and focuses on skill and process development. Two courses were developed: Scientific Professionalism: Scientific Integrity addressed discipline-specific and broad professional norms and obligations for the ethical practice of science and responsible conduct of research (RCR). Scientific Professionalism: Bioethics and Social Responsibility focused on current ethical and bioethical issues within the scientific profession, and implications of research for society. Each small-group session examined case scenarios that included: (1) learning objectives for professional norms and obligations; (2) key ethical issues and philosophies within each topic area; (3) one or more of the RCR instructional areas; and (4) at least one type of moral reflection. Cases emphasised professional standards, obligations and underlying philosophies for the ethical practice of science, competing interests of stakeholders and oversight of science (internal and external). To our knowledge, this is the first use of a longitudinal, multi-semester PBL course to teach scientific integrity and professionalism. Both faculty and students endorsed the active learning approach for these topics, in contrast to a compliance-based approach that emphasises learning rules and regulations.
- Bioethics
- biomedical graduate education
- education
- education for healthcare professionals
- education/programmes
- ethics
- problem-based learning
- professional development
- professional–professional relationship
- research ethics
- responsible conduct of research
- scientific integrity
- scientific research
- social control of science/technology
Statistics from Altmetric.com
- Bioethics
- biomedical graduate education
- education
- education for healthcare professionals
- education/programmes
- ethics
- problem-based learning
- professional development
- professional–professional relationship
- research ethics
- responsible conduct of research
- scientific integrity
- scientific research
- social control of science/technology
Footnotes
Linked articles 035238.
Funding This project was supported by NSF 0530023 from the National Science Foundation (JCE, principal investigator).
Competing interests None.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Linked Articles
- Teaching and learning ethics
- The concise argument
Other content recommended for you
- Problem-based learning for professionalism and scientific integrity training of biomedical graduate students: process evaluation
- Is medical students' moral orientation changeable after preclinical medical education?
- Neutralising fair credit: factors that influence unethical authorship practices
- Research funding and authorship: does grant winning count towards authorship credit?
- Effect of a community oriented problem based learning curriculum on quality of primary care delivered by graduates: historical cohort comparison study
- The concise argument
- Effects of congruence between preferred and perceived learning environments in nursing education in Taiwan: a cross-sectional study
- Attributes of a good physician: what are the opinions of first-year medical students?
- The “how” and “whys” of research: life scientists’ views of accountability
- Prescription writing skills of residents in a family practice residency programme in Bahrain