Application Effects of Medical Ethics for Problem Solving Ability And Grouping Methods

Park, Hye Jin; Lee, Seung Eun; Park, Won Kyun

Abstract

This study was aimed to examinate the effectiveness of the application of a medical ethics class model at 2014 and 2016 for the improvement of students' problem solving ability (PSA) in a medical school. The PSA of medical students was relatively higher than that of regular adults and college students. There were not significant differences of PSA between male and female medical students (pre-medical ethics class: t= 0.29 p= 0.78; post-medical ethics class: t= 1.09, p= 0.29). The significant improvements of students' PSA were remarkable after the application of the medical ethics class model (at 2014: t= 3.29, p < 0.01, at 2016: t= 7.05, p < 0.01). In 2016, all five lower level competencies of PSA such as "˜clarification problem'"˜cause analysis', "˜developing alternatives', "˜running the plan' and "˜assessing performance' were significantly improved. In 2014, however, "˜cause analysis', "˜developing alternatives' and "˜running the plan' of five lower level competencies of PSA were significantly improved. There were significant improvements of PSA after the medical ethics class model in both the higher PSA group (p < 0.01) and the lower PSA group (p < 0.01) in 2016. However, there was significant improvement of PSA after the medical ethics class in the lower PSA group only in 2014 (p < 0.01). This difference is be due to the grouping ways of discussion teams. The discussion teams of 2016 were homogeneously composed of the higher PSA students only or of the lower PSA students only, comparing to the discussion teams of 2014 composed heterogeneously of combining of the higher PSA and the lower PSA students. The medical ethics class model is thought to be very helpful educational method for improving of the PSA, and the grouping into homogeneous teams with PSA members of similar PSA level seems to be helpful to improve PSA than grouping into heterogeneous teams.