Inventory analysis of ethics curricula of medical schools in Turkey: How much accomplished, how far to go?

Summary:  View help for Summary The main purpose of this study was to collect comprehensive data about the bioethics/medical ethics education programs at medical schools in Turkey. We designed a cross-sectional descriptive questionnaire survey which focuses on the content, teaching techniques, teaching years, assessment and evaluation methods, workforce and infrastructure. The data collection tool (Questionnaire of Inventory of Ethics Education Curricula in Turkish Medical Schools) was developed by the researchers specifically for this study. The questionnaire is comprised of three parts. The first part comprises 9 items about demographic information. In the second part, there are 7 parameters inquiring about the content of medical schools’ bioethics/medical ethics curricula, teaching and training, and the assessment and evaluation methods they utilize, as well as the qualities of their substructures. The last part consists of 3 open-ended questions through which the participants may express their opinions about the strongest aspects of their bioethics/medical ethics education programs, areas for improvement within them, and the sources they use in teaching.   
Initially, we conducted a literature survey to identify the main topics in contemporary bioethics/medical ethics. Among them, to begin with, we adopted the first volume of the Bioethics Core Curriculum book (Syllabus Bioethics Education Programme) as the basic framework. Afterwards, we enriched this content by comparing the initial topics with those covered in the Tomorrow’s Doctors report published by the General Medical Council in the UK, the US-based The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's Outcome Project, and the National Core Curriculum developed and proposed by the Council of Medical Schools Deans as a guideline for medical educators in Turkey. We designed the questionnaire so that it included items that questioned not just which of the topics were embraced in the education programs of different institutions, but also how they were treated. Namely, per topic, the duration devoted to each teaching activity, the teaching methods and teaching sources utilized, by whom these activities were conducted, and how they were assessed and evaluated were also examined. Next, we included a section about the participating institutions’ substructures and the workforce. Here we aimed to learn whether they had a bioethics/medical ethics department and/or an institute active in the organization of education programs, the number of people taking part in teaching activities, whether they had formal bioethics/medical ethics expertise, and if not, their professional backgrounds and their academic positions and titles. Lastly, we added a commentary section, as explained above.
We delivered the questionnaire to the administrators of all medical schools in Turkey, and scholars working in, if any, departments of history of medicine and ethics (DHMEs) and/or departments of medical education along with an informed request from those who were responsible from the conduct of education programs. Mostly via multiple e-mails, we sent out a secure link to the questionnaire after converting it to a digital format that allowed online participation. We called unresponsive participants for reminders and, in some cases, collected their data via telephone interview. We collected the data between April 2017 to August 2018. 

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms ethics education; medical schools; curriculum

Universe:  View help for Universe All medical schools in Turkey

Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data