Bridging the education-action gap: a near-peer case-based undergraduate ethics teaching programme

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Bioethics
• Professional Development

Background:

• Undergraduate ethics teaching has improved, increasing confidence in identifying ethical issues.
• Despite improved ethics education, doctors struggle to act on perceived unethical behavior, as seen in healthcare scandals.
• Professional ethical guidelines and competencies exist but are insufficient to ensure ethical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate a Foundation Doctor (FD)-led ethics teaching program for medical students.
• To enhance students' moral sensitivity, moral identity, ethical reasoning skills, and ability to overcome barriers to ethical action.
• To utilize near-peer teaching by FDs as an effective method for role modeling and skill development.

Main Methods:

• A Foundation Doctor (FD)-led teaching program was designed for medical students.
• Medical students brought clinical cases and experiences for small group discussions facilitated by FDs.
• The program focused on developing ethical action through moral sensitivity, identity, reasoning, and addressing barriers.

Main Results:

• The program aimed to enable students to act ethically in practice.
• FDs were chosen as facilitators based on the effectiveness of near-peer teaching in medicine.
• Themes from case discussions, student feedback, and FD facilitator feedback were evaluated.

Conclusions:

• The program's design, rationale, and emerging themes are reviewed.
• Practical challenges in implementing such a teaching program are discussed.
• The study evaluates student and FD facilitator feedback to assess program effectiveness.