Assessing bioethics education: Teaching to be virtuous doctors or just doctors with practical ethical skills

• Published in: Atención primaria 2019-02, Vol.51 (2), p.99-104
• Main Authors: Esquerda, Montse, Pifarré, Josep, Roig, Helena, Busquets, Ester, Yuguero, Oriol, Viñas, Joan
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; spa
• Subjects: Adult; Bioethics - education; Cross-Sectional Studies; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Moral Development; Problem Solving - ethics; Spain; Students, Medical - psychology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1578-1275
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aprim.2017.05.018

In the last decades, bioethics has been incorporated into the academic training of the Medical Schools. Some studies analyze the ethical-moral development of medical students and the effect of ethical education in other countries. This evaluation is done by measuring Kohlberg's moral reasoning (virtuous doctors), or ethical sensitivity to resolve clinical cases (physicians with ethical skills). The following study is proposed to assess the impact of bioethics training on these two variables, in Spanish medical students. Observational cross-sectional study. SITE: Faculty of Medicine, University of Lleida. 175 students from third year of medicine (78 before bioethics and 97 after bioethics, in different courses) were conducted. Bioethics course. A socio-demographic questionnaire, the Rest Defining Issue test scale, and Problem Identification Test with clinical vignettes were administered. A consistent and significant correlation has been found between moral reasoning and ethical sensitivity. Women presented greater post-conventional reasoning. There were no changes in Kohlberg's stage of global moral reasoning with ethical training. There were changes in ethical sensitivity with bioethical training, with a significantly and globally improvement. In our study, training in bioethics does not improve moral development but rather the ethical problem solving skills. It is asked if this improvement is enough to train doctors prepared for the new challenges.