TEACHING ETHICS USING SMALL-GROUP, PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Ethics is the emphasis of our first-year Introduction to Clinical Medi cine-1 course. Introduction to Clinical Medicine-1 uses problem-based learning to involve groups of seven to nine students and two facilitat ors in realistic clinical cases. The cases emphasize ethics, but also include human behaviour, basic science, clinical medicine, and prevent ion learning issues. Three cases use written vignettes, while the othe r three cases feature standardized patients. Groups meet twice for eac h case. In session one, students read the case introduction, obtain da ta from the written case or standardized patient, identify the case's ethical problems, formulate learning issues, discuss ways to resolve t he moral conflicts, and assign research responsibilities. In session t wo, students discuss their assigned learning issues and specify and ju stify clinical actions to address the case's ethical dilemmas. Followi ng three cases, groups write an essay discussing what they learned and describing how they would approach and resolve the case's learning is sues.