Measuring cognitive outcomes in a pre-clinical bioethics course

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Bioethics

Background:

• Medical schools recognize the importance of bioethics education.
• Limited research quantifies the educational outcomes of bioethics courses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess knowledge acquisition and retention of core bioethics concepts.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a pre-clinical bioethics course.

Main Methods:

• Administered pre- and post-tests (25 multiple-choice questions) to first-year medical students over two years.
• Analyzed results from 189 participating students using paired t tests.

Main Results:

• Significant improvement in average scores from 69.8% (pre-test) to 82.6% (post-test).
• An increase of 12.9% in knowledge comprehension after the 15-week course.
• Students perceived identical questions as easier post-intervention, indicating learning.

Conclusions:

• The introductory bioethics course effectively improved short-term knowledge and comprehension.
• Results support the value of bioethics courses in medical education.
• Encourages further research into higher-level learning outcomes in bioethics.