Curriculum Innovation: Teaching Neuroethics Through a Case-Based Undergraduate Medical Education Workshop:...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Neuroethics
• Clinical Neurology

Background:

• Medical students face ethical challenges in neurology clerkships with limited formal neuroethics training.
• A need exists to equip students with skills for complex ethical situations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a case-based workshop designed to introduce neuroethics concepts.
• To assess the impact on medical students' knowledge, confidence, and interest in ethics.

Main Methods:

• A 1.5-hour interactive workshop was implemented for neurology clerkship students.
• Pre- and post-workshop surveys measured knowledge, confidence, and interest in neuroethics.
• Content knowledge assessed via multiple-choice questions on brain death and capacity.

Main Results:

• 66% of students reported increased confidence in ethics knowledge; 42% showed increased interest.
• Significant improvements observed in content knowledge for capacity assessment (17%), brain death (19%), and surrogate decision making (22%).
• No significant difference in pre-session knowledge based on prior ethics experience.

Conclusions:

• Case-based neuroethics workshops effectively enhance medical students' knowledge and confidence.
• The curriculum successfully integrated ethics and health disparity education into neurology training.
• The intervention increased student interest in ethics and improved ethical reasoning skills.