Ethics in optometry: an educational intervention

Area of Science:

• Optometry Education
• Medical Ethics
• Health Professions Training

Background:

• Ethical reasoning is vital for registered health professionals, including optometrists, to ensure optimal patient care.
• Applying ethical knowledge in practical scenarios is a critical skill for healthcare practitioners.
• Case-based scenario workshops offer a potential method for teaching and assessing ethical knowledge application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a case-based ethics workshop in enhancing optometry students' confidence in addressing ethical dilemmas.
• To identify the benefits and challenges of using case-based workshops for ethics education in optometry.

Main Methods:

• An intervention study was conducted at an Australian university involving optometry students.
• A pre- and post-workshop survey assessed students' confidence in navigating ethical dilemmas.
• Statistical analysis, including the Mann-Whitney U test, was used to compare confidence levels.

Main Results:

• Fifty-nine students completed the pre-workshop survey, and 49 completed the post-workshop survey.
• No significant difference in baseline confidence was found based on prior experience.
• A statistically significant improvement in confidence was observed, rising from 53% pre-workshop to 82% post-workshop (Z = -2.541, p = 0.011).

Conclusions:

• Case-based ethics workshops are an effective educational tool for improving students' confidence in ethical decision-making.
• The findings support the incorporation of such workshops into optometry curricula.
• This educational strategy may also be beneficial for other health profession programs.