Ethics education in pediatrics: Implementation and evaluation of an interactive online course for medical students

Kidszun, André; Forth, Fiona A.; Matheisl, Daniel; Busch, Franziska; Kaltbeitzel, Lara; Kurz, Sandra (2022). Ethics education in pediatrics: Implementation and evaluation of an interactive online course for medical students. GMS Journal for Medical Education, 39(5), pp. 1-14. Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung 10.3205/zma001576

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed the development of online learning formats in virtually all areas of medical education. In pediatric ethics, online learning may not only substitute but also offer specific advantages over traditional classroom teaching. Many pediatricians rate their ethics education as poor and medical ethics education lacks evaluation, especially regarding the students’ needs. The aim of this project was to implement and evaluate a novel interactive distance learning approach to engage medical students in pediatric ethics education.

Methods: An online ethics course was designed and delivered between May and June 2020. Core item of this course was a moderated, written forum discussion spanning several days. Evaluation was mixed methods. We evaluated the effectiveness of the course in terms of quality of the learning environment with a particular focus on relevance to students as well as interactive learning and reflective thinking. The Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) was used to evaluate six different domains of the course. Data are presented as mean (standard deviation [SD]). The respective score range is 1-5, whereby a score of 4 or 5 means that the participants indicated the corresponding item as frequently or almost always present.

Results: Responses were available from 104 (78.3%) of the 133 participating students. “Relevance” yielded a score of 4.17 (0.83), “reflective thinking” a score of 4.22 (0.83). “Interactivity” was scored 3.76 (0.99) and “tutor support” 4.72 (0.53). “Peer support” and “interpretation” scored 3.87 (0.98) and 4.49 (0.60), respectively. In qualitative analysis, students particularly valued the structure of the course, the relevance for their professional practice, their active participation and the incentive to reflective thinking. Students also indicated that this was an innovative and exciting format, which fills a current educational gap and should hence be continued beyond the pandemic.

Conclusion: In conclusion, students actively engaged in online learning and perceived this ethics course as highly relevant for their professional practice.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine > Neonatology

UniBE Contributor:

Kidszun, André, Busch, Franziska Donata Irene

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

2366-5017

Publisher:

Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung

Language:

English

Submitter:

Anette van Dorland

Date Deposited:

16 Nov 2022 12:01

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:28

Publisher DOI:

10.3205/zma001576

Uncontrolled Keywords:

pediatrics, ethics, education, distance-learning, online, interactivity, reflective thinking, medical students

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/174811

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/174811

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