Bioethics Education on Medical Students: Opinions About Ethical Dilemmas

Medical education aims to train professionals who are capable of making extremely complex decisions. As part of the medical curriculum, bioethics education could have an important role in promoting moral development and decision-making in medical students. This study aims to determine if, after a Bioethics and Professional Deontology course, medical students would present a change of opinion on three ethical dilemmas. A quantitative and longitudinal study was developed by applying the MCTxt (Moral Competence Test extended), composed of three ethical dilemmas (Worker, doctor, and judge dilemmas), to a sample of 70, fourth year medical students, from a Portuguese medical school. The questionnaire was applied at the beginning and end of a bioethics course, with a 3 month time interval. For this study the opinion scores were analyzed and described using the mean and standard deviation. The comparison of these scores, at both times, were performed using t-tests for paired samples. A significance level of 5% was used. For students who were neutral in the first application, the majority went on to agree or disagree with the performance of the dilemma character, ultimately showing less indecision at the end of bioethics course. The results suggest that, after the bioethics course, students have lower indecision, however the changes were very tenuous. Bioethics education is important to promote more opportunities for reflection and discussion, to stimulate critical judgment, and the ability to make decisions by medical students. Further research could help to better understand this subject.

Structuring Bioethics Education: Building Bioethical Potential, Experience, Practice

The article is divided into the following main blocks: initiatives of bioethics` capacity building; practices and experiences in the bioethicist`s work. The article aims to investigate the structuring possibilities of bioethical education, and the model of integrative bioethics is seen in this context as a promising device/tool. The figure-scheme, created by the author, shows 2 bioethics' growth lines - educational, as a formal (institutional) line and societal, as informal (cultural) one. In describing the lines, the author has identified the main aspects of influence: the cultural aspect (a); the political aspect (c); the humanistic aspect / human capital (c). In the educational (formal) sphere the following areas of activity were described - school, education, interdisciplinary programs in bioethics. In societal (informal) - experience of participation of community organizations in the creation of projects and grant activities of bioethicists. Hereof the following blocks were discussed - Bioethicist as an activist; Role of bioethicist as a translator, agent of change. Education through bioethics and public discussion of bioethical issues is what can be called a «circle of integrity». Bioethics education prepares community members to deal with ethically challenging issues by providing them with the skills to address ethical challenges in the everyday routine of one community. Bioethics capacity building was reviewed through the creation of a professional network of bioethics experts and their educational programmes - the Integrative Platform of Bioethics (InPlatBio). A network of bioethicists and stakeholders provides a learning-friendly environment. Both - networks and the development of links with different informal organisations and associations are important for essential communicative skills. The use of online courses, webinars is a modern source of information on the development of bioethics in Ukraine as well as in European countries.

Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic. A collective autoethnography of bioethics education

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted academic life worldwide, for both students and teachers." Then the next sentence stating the purpose of study is highlighting that its specifically internal medical students and bioethics teachers. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the collective adversity experienced by international medical students and bioethics teachers amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to both personal and academic life. The authors wrote subjective memoirs that were analyzed using a collective autoethnography method to find similarities and inconsistencies between their experiences. The results consist of three different sections; falling apart, bouncing back and bioethics. ‘Falling apart’ explores the breakdown of daily lives during the initial stages of the pandemic, shown through subjective quotes contextualized through the authors commentary. The consensus is that the journey home and the move to remote education, were the two main perpetrators for the breakdown ‘Bounce back’ focuses on the authors’ rebirth after the initial breakdown, by acquiring new information about the virus, discovering substitute hobbies, like home workout or dancing, and the students learning to adjust their exam expectations. 'Bioethics’ is about how it was to learn and teach this subject during the pandemic, and how you can apply bioethical knowledge to better understand and cope with some of the pandemic’s moral dilemmas. The study presents how important bioethics is during a global pandemic, as well as the struggles of remote learning, from both the students’ and the professors’ point of view.