Content analysis of ethical codes written by medical students compared with other codes of medical ethics

The ethical legacy of Hippocrates

The text analyses the ethical content of the Hippocratic Oath, evaluates its significance for modern-day medicine and answers the question of how relevant it is for today's physicians. The history of the Oath is explored from its origin to modern-day adaptations. The paper explains the difference of expressing moral norms through an oath, a promise and a code. The ethical contents of Hippocratic ethics are divided into three segments: the covenant, the code and decorum. The paper further discusses the interpretation of controversial parts on abortion, euthanasia and the use of surgery. In his other works, Hippocrates emphasises high morality and requires physicians to be virtuous, exemplary humanists and to preserve the honour of their profession. In spite of all its faults, the Hippocratic Oath continues to set an example for the medical practice by emphasising the responsibility of the physician for the well-being of the patient. It is necessary that physicians possess not only technical knowledge, but also ethical education, enabling them to make conscientious moral decisions. The Oath is old, non-authentic , modified, differently interpreted and incomplete, but remains relevant for modern-day biomedical ethics.

Medical school mission statements as reflections of institutional identity and educational purpose: a network text analysis

PURPOSE

A medical school's mission statement (MS) is an expression of its vision and a reflection of the broader social environment in which it is embedded. The authors examine how the institutional identity of U.S. medical education is projected through the MSs of all U.S. MD-granting medical schools. In addition, the authors examine the extent to which differences between subsets of schools (public versus private; research-intensive versus "social mission"-oriented) are reflected in their respective MSs.

METHOD

Whereas existing studies have typically sought to uncover core themes using content-analytic approaches, for this 2011 study the authors combined text analysis with network analysis to elaborate core concepts within larger networks of meaning across MSs. They computed measures of centrality (i.e., density or "connectivity") for each concept and presented the aggregations of MSs as semantic networks (i.e., representations or maps of the relationships among concepts).

RESULTS

Analysis across all MSs revealed a dense set of ties among a core set of concepts, indicating a general uniformity among all medical schools; however, the authors identified appreciable differences within subsets of MSs (public versus private and research-intensive versus social-mission-focused).

CONCLUSIONS

MSs of U.S. medical schools are meaningful statements about values and direction. The use of social network text analysis provides an innovative method for understanding the structure of meaning within MSs and, potentially, how these documents might speak to institutional performance outcomes.