[Ethical Attitudes of Brazilian Medical Students and Graduates with Active Methodologies.]

Attitudes towards learning professional ethics in undergraduate physiotherapy students: A STROBE compliant cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Ethics is a key competence to be acquired by physiotherapy students to ensure quality care. However, students may not be aware of the importance of ethics for the development of their clinical practice, in the same way that their attitudes towards Professional Ethics are unknown within their curriculum.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to identify the attitudes towards learning Professional Ethics among undergraduate students of Physiotherapy Degree and compare the attitude between the educational years.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was carried out.

SETTINGS

Physiotherapy Degree at the University of Valencia, Spain.

PARTICIPANTS

In the study 340 physiotherapy students participated.

METHODS

This was a quantitative study with a cross-sectional observational design. The students of the different years of the Physiotherapy Degree had to complete the Attitudes Questionnaire towards Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy in order to analyse the study objective.

RESULTS

The four educational years' scored 3.80 or more in the questionnaire. Second-year students scored the highest (4.25 ± 0.35) and had significantly more favourable attitudes towards learning ethics in relation to the rest of the years (p = 0.007 vs. first; p < 0.001 vs. third and fourth). First-year students (4.09 ± 0.37) obtained a significantly higher score than third (3.86 ± 0.35) and fourth years (3.80 ± 0.33) with p < 0.001 vs. both third and fourth. Finally, in relation to the 3 categories of the items' questionnaire the mean scores showed significant differences between the second year and the rest of the years.

CONCLUSIONS

The attitudes towards learning Professional Ethics among students of the Physiotherapy Degree at the university is favourable, although it varies depending on the academic year, with the students in the academic year in which Ethics is taught (i.e. second year students) being the ones with better attitudes.

A LITERATURA SOBRE METODOLOGIAS ATIVAS EM EDUCAÇÃO MÉDICA NO BRASIL: NOTAS PARA UMA REFLEXÃO CRÍTICA

Resumo Este trabalho parte da emergência de escolas médicas que fundamentam seus currículos nas metodologias ativas. Teve como objetivo realizar um mapeamento na Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica com base na produção científica sobre conexões entre formação médica e metodologias ativas. O levantamento bibliográfico incluiu 53 artigos, agrupados em quatro categorias de análise: análise comparativa entre modelos curriculares fundamentados no método tradicional e nas metodologias ativas; avaliação da mudança curricular baseada no uso das metodologias ativas; avaliação do desempenho discente com uso das metodologias ativas; e capacitação docente no contexto das metodologias ativas. Esses resultados apontam as metodologias ativas como propostas que podem dar respostas aos anseios de mudança curricular dos cursos de medicina no Brasil, ainda que não exista um consenso em relação à efe-tividade do seu uso nessa área. Todavia, um olhar mais detalhado sobre esses resultados nos permitiu concluir que esse processo, quando baseado apenas na mudança do método de ensino, pode apresenta lacunas e mostra não ser suficiente para mudança do perfil do egresso em medicina. Desse modo, recomendamos serem realizadas mais pesquisas nesse campo para melhor compreender os usos das metodologias ativas nas dinâmicas curriculares que fundamentam a educação médica no Brasil.

Ethics education in research involving human beings in undergraduate medicine curriculum in Brazil

INTRODUCTION

The Brazilian national curriculum guidelines for undergraduate medicine courses inspired and influenced the groundwork for knowledge acquisition, skills development and the perception of ethical values in the context of professional conduct.

OBJECTIVE

The evaluation of ethics education in research involving human beings in undergraduate medicine curriculum in Brazil, both in courses with active learning processes and in those with traditional lecture learning methodologies.

METHODS

Curricula and teaching projects of 175 Brazilian medical schools were analyzed using a retrospective historical and descriptive exploratory cohort study. Thirty one medical schools were excluded from the study because of incomplete information or a refusal to participate. Active research for information from institutional sites and documents was guided by terms based on 69 DeCS/MeSH descriptors. Curriculum information was correlated with educational models of learning such as active learning methodologies, tutorial discussions with integrated curriculum into core modules, and traditional lecture learning methodologies for large classes organized by disciplines and reviewed by occurrence frequency of ethical themes and average hourly load per semester.

RESULTS

Ninety-five medical schools used traditional learning methodologies. The ten most frequent ethical themes were: 1--ethics in research (26); 2--ethical procedures and advanced technology (46); 3--ethic-professional conduct (413). Over 80% of schools using active learning methodologies had between 50 and 100 hours of scheduled curriculum time devoted to ethical themes whereas more than 60% of traditional learning methodology schools devoted less than 50 hours in curriculum time to ethical themes.

CONCLUSION

The data indicates that medical schools that employ more active learning methodologies provide more attention and time to ethical themes than schools with traditional discipline-based methodologies. Given the importance of ethical issues in contemporary medical education, these findings are significant for curriculum change and modification plans in the future of Brazilian medical education.