Medical Students’ and Interns’ Attitudes toward Medical Ethics Education in a Thai Medical School

Authors

  • Sakda Sathirareuangchai Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700

Abstract

Background: Medical ethics has been accepted as part of every accredited medical curriculum for the past 40 years. Medical students’ attitudes have an important role for development and improvement of the curriculum. Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital is the oldest and largest medical school in Thailand, and has been teaching medical ethics since 1907.
Objective: To determine attitudes among medical students and interns toward medical ethics education and understand the factors influencing their attitudes.
Methods: Mixed quantitative and qualitative research was conducted with early 6th year medical students and interns. A questionnaire was adapted from previous studies and included some original items.
Results: Of the 550 questionnaires distributed, 386 were returned (70.2% response rate). Males (n=180) made up 46.63 % of the sample. Interns (n=219, 56.74 %) tended to have more positive attitudes toward ethics learning than did medical students (n = 167, 43.26 %). Male participants tended to agree more with negative statements about ethics learning than did females. There was no statistically significant effect of hometown (Bangkok versus elsewhere) or grade point average on attitudes. The main problem cited with medical ethics education was lack of engaging methods.
Conclusion: Because clinical experience has an effect on learners’ attitudes towards ethics education, medical ethics should be taught at the appropriate time and with proper techniques, such as drawing explicit ties between ethical principles and real-life situations. Attention to the more detailed aspects of these data should also facilitate improvements to curriculum content, thereby ensuring better educational outcomes.

Keywords: Medical ethics, medical students attitude, medical education, medical school

Downloads

Published

08-04-2016

How to Cite

Sathirareuangchai, S. (2016). Medical Students’ and Interns’ Attitudes toward Medical Ethics Education in a Thai Medical School. Siriraj Medical Journal, 68(2). Retrieved from https://he02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/sirirajmedj/article/view/55192

Issue

Vol. 68 No. 2 (2016): March-April

Section

Original Article

License

Users are free to share, copy, and redistribute all articles published in the Siriraj Medical Journal (SMJ) in any medium or format as long as you follow the following terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the material, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the publisher endorses you or your use.
  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
  • No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.