Medical ethics - can the East guide the West?
Editor - Medical ethics, a hot topic in most
if not all medical schools and one that the
General Medical Council is keen to imple.
ment and deliver well. When? How? Where?
How long? How much? These must be the
questions course organisers must be asking
themselves.
Well, perhaps the answer lies in an ethics
course that is currently being run at the St
John's Medical College in Bangalore, India.
Here, a 40 hour ethics course is delivered
over the four and a half years of the medical
course. The course is run as didactic
lectures, small group seminars, and role
plays and covers a range of topics from indi.
vidual values and beliefs, through to
research ethics and the doctor and patient
relationship.1
In their final year as part of the weekly
clinical meeting, the students are expected
to present an actual case they have encoun.
tered in a clinical setting that may provoke
specific ethical dilemmas. The house then
discusses these cases. These meetings are
chaired by members of faculty and a profes.
sor of medical ethics so as to ensure that the
students do not miss the important legal as
well as professional issues. The students
thought that not only was the course of edu.
cational value, but also relevant and enjoy.
able while stirring emotions, challenging
views and values, and highlighting how
strongly students felt about certain issues.
Students also felt that they were better
prepared to deal with cases where medical
ethics played a key part.
I realise that the above course is not one
that can be easily implemented in medical
schools around Britain, but aspects of the
course as well as the topics covered could
well be used to enhance the course that
medical schools currently deliver. I think
that in this case the West would benefit from
the education strategy of the East.
Ashok Iyer fourth year medical student, St George's Hospital Medical School
Email: 97ms068@sghms.ac.uk
studentBMJ 2001;09:399-442 November ISSN 0966-6494
- Ravindran GD, Kalam T, Lewin S, Pais P. Teaching medical ethics in a medical college in India. Natl Med J India 1997;10: 288.9.
