Use of role play in undergraduate teaching of ethics - an experience

Lecture is the traditional way of teaching adopted in our routine. Learning about medical ethics used to be done by lecture. All of us felt that learning some aspects of ethics requires a deeper understanding of the topics especially those areas involving feelings and emotions. So the role play method was chosen. We taught the topics consent and euthanasia by both the didactic method and by role play to the students of second year MBBS during the period June-July 2012 and then we compared the results. We have tried to evaluate role play vis-a vis lecture by analyzing the feedback from the students. The affective component analysis requires a different method of teaching and assessment as shown by our experience.