The effect of a compulsory curriculum on ethical attitudes of medical students

The purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of a compulsor y curriculum on first-year medical students. The ethical attitude study was performed at the School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Croatia. The sa mples consisted of 171 medical students (68 males and 103 females) intervie wed at the beginning of the first year of studies. Some of them, namely 143 (56 males and 87 females) were interviewed again at the end of the same ac ademic year: Data were analysed by applying factor analysis under principal component model and varimax criterion as the rotation model. The results c learly show that the current compulsory curriculum without formal ethical e ducation has a limited influence on first-year medical students. That point s to the obvious necessity to implement the medical ethics in the course of medical education.