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Breaking news! Effective strategies to promote ethical thinking in a pharmacology course
Author(s) -
PenaSilva Ricardo,
SierraVelandia Ana,
CocomaArciniegas Gonzalo,
ZuluagaRodriguez Linda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2021.35.s1.04248
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , context (archaeology) , notice , ethical dilemma , public relations , dilemma , medical education , psychology , reading (process) , engineering ethics , medicine , political science , engineering , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology , law , biology
A challenge in biomedical education is to provide comprehensive experiences that include a continuous reflection on professionalism and ethical conduct. However, it is not easy to get students to notice the importance of ethical behavior in courses that traditionally focus on the communication of technical knowledge and facts. We set out to create an academic space in which pharmacology students have the opportunity to reflect on ethical dilemmas as professionals and citizens. Methods This innovation was implemented during 2020 in a pharmacology course that is offered to second‐year medical students. The course included an interaction space (initially in the classroom and then virtual, following the confinements brought about by the COVID‐19 pandemic). Groups of students worked on a dilemma in pharmacological sciences. The challenges could be historical situations (such as the thalidomide tragedy) or current news about the use of medicines in the national or global context (conflicts of interest in health personnel, medication administration errors, drug adulteration, research misconduct, etc). The activity was divided into the following stages: 1. Students participated in a role‐play, creating a video news show, in which they covered a dilemma. Each report included the arguments and points of view of different stakeholders (health personnel, scientists, the pharmaceutical industry, patients, government officials, and ethics experts). 2. Each team, acting as teachers, uploaded their videos, assigned a complementary reading, and designed an integration activity to promote and assess mastery of the key concepts in their peers. 3. The effectiveness of the activities was evaluated by their peers and the instructor Finally, a survey was applied to evaluate the perception of learning and the usefulness of the innovation. Twenty‐five learning outcomes, including examples of student, professional, and citizen behaviors and reflections on several ethical principles, were assessed. Results In 24 of the 25 outcomes, more than 88% of the students reported that the activities helped them improve their attitude, knowledge, and ideas about an ethical principle or behavior. In 1 of the 25 items, only 67% of the students improved their learning perception (adoption of sustainable consumption habits). Evaluation of the effectiveness of each stage of the activities resulted in an average score of 89%. Conclusions In summary, a role‐playing strategy in which students address an ethical dilemma in a reporting/news format can be easily incorporated into a pharmacology course. This strategy appears to be an effective mechanism for promoting student engagement and strengthening professional and ethical behavior competencies in pharmacology students.