Artikel
Which Ethical Challenges did Medical Students at Witten/Herdecke University Encounter During their Studies?
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Autoren
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Katharina Weber
- Witten/Herdecke University, Institute for Didactics and Educational Research in Health Sciences, Witten, Germany
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Peter Gaidzik
- Witten/Herdecke University, Institute for Didactics and Educational Research in Health Sciences, Witten, Germany; Witten/Herdecke University, Institute for Medical Law, Witten, Germany
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Martin Schnell
- Witten/Herdecke University, Institute for Ethics and Communication in HealthCare, Witten, Germany
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Jan Ehlers
- Witten/Herdecke University, Institute for Didactics and Educational Research in Health Sciences, Witten, Germany
| Veröffentlicht: | 7. März 2017 |
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Gliederung
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Introduction: "Medical ethics" has been integrated as a part of medical schools' curricula in Germany 13 years ago. Students must fulfil a certificate of achievement in this cross-sectional subject: medical history, theory and ethics [2]. The aim of this ethical education should be the students' preparation in an appropriate manner for a physician's everyday life [1].
Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine and assess ethical challenges medical students encountered across nine semesters of medical school at Witten/Herdecke University. To investigate whether there is dependence between an apprenticeship as a health-care professional and the declaration of an ethical conflict situation.
Material & methods: The authors designed and distributed a questionnaire to all semesters from one to nine. The students provided personal information and among others their exposure to or participation in ethical conflict situations. They were offered to describe the matter of this ethical conflict situation. Results were evaluated anonymously with focus on descriptive statistics.
Results: The response rate was 93.6%. The mean value among the students with an inchoate or completed apprenticeship as a health-care professional represents 45.8%. A third (32.4%) of all medical students declared to have experienced an ethical conflict situation during their studies. The report starts early in the first semester with 28.9% and an increasing tendency up to semester nine with 56.1% is visible. The correlation between declaration of an ethical conflict situation and apprenticeship is almost fifty-fifty. The declared topics about challenging ethical situations are corresponding to the specific learning objectives of the curriculum about medical history, theory and ethics.
Discussion & conclusion: Medical students at Witten/Herdecke University encountered ethical conflict situations already at the beginning in their freshman year. Although the subject "medical ethics" has been established as an integral part of medical schools' curricula in 2003, an increasing tendency in the declaration of ethical conflict situation during the students' studies is recorded. This contests the purpose of ethical education in medical schools and shows that the current curriculum could be further improved to prepare the medical students even better for their later everyday life as a physician.
