Table 3 Similarities and differences in the perceptions/opinions of students and faculty. Similarities and differences in the perceptions/opinions of students and faculty regarding sequencing and integration of bioethics sessions, teaching of theoretical concepts, contextual and cultural relevance, mandatory nature of sessions, mode of assessment and recommendations for the future
Theme | Students’ opinion/perception | Faculty opinion/perception |
|---|---|---|
Sequencing /integration of contents/sessions | Well sequenced, further integration in the clinics is required Better integration required in PBLs and PSILs “Topics covered were very important and necessary for us as medical students. It helped us approach issues / multifactorial issues and address them, we see their application in our clinics today” (Year 3 student) “Yes, situations which we were given were beneficial…but when we see such cases in clinics then we can (better) communicate with them.” (Year 4 student) | Sequenced well from theories to application in clinical settings Integration required in PBLs “I feel satisfied with the sequencing because I think when we start with Year I, that is where the larger backdrop is created. They get introduced to basic concepts and how the concepts are integrated. I even now recall this slide that all possible aspects of bioethics is noted and then we ask the students what pulls them all together? How do we integrate? And I love the responses.” (Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences) |
Theoretical concepts/contents/ /clinical application | Diverse opinion. Most said basic concepts are important and lay the base for application. Few commented that history and theories were not of much use “So yes the theory is there and it translates into performance.” (Year 4 student) | Historical background, knowledge of concepts very relevant “As far as the content is concerned, I think it is quite well laid out. So if you see in the first year we introduce ethics history and principles. In the second year the focus is more on ethical issues and we also integrate right as well and then clinical ethics.” (Senior Instructor, Department of Community Health Sciences) |
Contextual/Cultural /Clinical relevance | Very important All cases should be clinically/contextually relevant “I would recommend a more clinical oriented approach, the session that I recall was about renal dialysis,it was very clinically oriented, we got to know the patient perspective because telling somebody to be empathetic is fundamentally usesless but showing us where that empathy lies and where it should go is far more effective.” (Year 2 student) | Cultural and regional norms very important All bioethics teaching should be contextualized and culturally relevant “It is very important that we should look at bioethics curriculum with our own cultural, regional norms and settings”. (Senior Instructor,Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) “Ethics is about what shouldn’t be the case and it is not only about looking and accepting what is the case. A lot of our cultural norms, we can debate and say they are unethical.” (Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences) |
Mandatory nature | Diverse opinion, earlier years said it should not be mandatory while later years commented that sessions should be mandatory “Because of the mandatory participation, people feel kind of obligated to be there, so they don’t really engage, they feel that it’s something being forced upon them.” (Year 1 student) “I feel the bioethics curriculum the fact that it is mandatory is useful because the basic principles that have been touched upon and the main theories, we have talked about proved to be very useful.” (Year 3 student) | Needs to be mandatory & attending all sessions should be one of the eligibilities for appearing in end of module exam |
Assessment | Should remain formative “I think it should be as it is, now its formative.” (Year 2 student) If we're going to have some sort of assessment that should not be aimed to be summative.” (Year 1 student) | Should include summative assessment along with formative “I think summative part (assessment) is important.” (Senior Instructor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) |
Recommendations | Sessions should be shorter Sessions should be well spaced and not close to any exam Add the topic of ethics in relation to social media “Sessions should not be placed right before an exam, definitely not in the exam week.” (Year 4 student) “…because now we live in this era where we have mobile phones and internet if we could have sessions how to maintain patient confidentiality, when we are posting whatever case we saw on social media, what are the things we should be careful about.” (Year 4 student) | Add organizational ethics, professional ethics, and public ethics “We tend to focus more on clinical ethics rather than on public health. I think public health, the community health perspective seems to get marginalized or missed altogether, although I believe it can be integrated with every clinical aspect also. So that bit needs strengthening. (Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences) "Regarding content, I would suggest that we focus on professional ethics part near the third year or at the end of the second year." (Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery) |