Ethics without borders: an analysis of national and international guidelines on ethics in basic medical education

This study aims to identify and examine the content of existing national or international guidelines on the inclusion of ethics in basic medical education, in the English language. B y doing so, it hopes to explore and highlight the similarities and differences regarding their pedagogical goals and their prescribed content, thereby contributing to a more holistic understanding on the state of medical ethics education. Methods: Data collection was performed through systematic sea rches on Google and on scientific databases. The guidelines that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were thematically analyzed using the method proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). The resulting themes and sub-themes were grouped and characterized. Results: Thirteen guidelines (ten national and three international) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Among these, two major approaches can be discerned: value-based and norm-based. Value-based guidelines tend to be more globally applicable, because they endorse more abstract and universal principles. Norm-based guidelines, on the other hand, are more context-specific and have a practical focus. Understanding this distinction could facilitate discussions on different perspectives in ethics education.
Source: Advances in Health Sciences Education - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: research