Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Dec 2:6:2382120519883887.
doi: 10.1177/2382120519883887. eCollection 2019 Jan-Dec.

Bioethics Education in the Medical Programme among Malaysian Medical Schools: Where Are We Now?

Joong Hiong Sim  1 , Olivia Miu Yung Ngan  2   3 , Ho Keung Ng  2
Affiliations

Bioethics Education in the Medical Programme among Malaysian Medical Schools: Where Are We Now?

Joong Hiong Sim et al. J Med Educ Curric Dev. .

Abstract

Introduction: A global trend in medical education is the inclusion of bioethics teaching in medical programme. The objective of this article is to describe the current state of bioethics education in the medical programme among Malaysian medical schools.

Method: A national survey was conducted among Malaysian medical schools between January and March 2019. One representative from each medical school was invited to respond to the survey. Respondents were faculty members involved in teaching and assessment of bioethics in their medical schools, or/and in developing and coordinating bioethics curriculum. Descriptive statistics were reported.

Findings: Out of 30 medical schools, 11 completed and returned the survey (overall response rate = 36.7%). Of these 11 schools, 6/10 (60%) were from public institutions while 5/20 (25%) were from private institutions. All except 1 school implemented a formal bioethics curriculum. A wide range of bioethics topics are currently taught in the medical programme. The majority involved in teaching bioethics were health care professionals (mainly clinicians), followed by lawyers. Lecture and attendance, respectively, are the most common teaching and assessment method. Major barriers to the implementation of bioethics education included limited qualified teaching staff (6/11 = 54.5%), no established curriculum to follow (5/11 = 45.5%), limited financial resources to hire qualified staff (4/11 = 36.4%), and no consensus among faculty members (4/11 = 36.4%).

Conclusion: Bioethics education in Malaysia is relatively new and mostly limited by a shortage of scholars in bioethics. National support and institutional collaboration in providing bioethics training is the key to enhance the quality of bioethics education.

Keywords: Bioethics education; Malaysia; medical programme; medical schools.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests:The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Number of teaching hours for bioethics course by year.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Bioethics topics currently taught at the 11 medical schools.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Capacity of teaching staff involved in teaching bioethics.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Teaching and assessment methods.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Barriers to implementation of bioethics education.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hattab AS. Current trends in teaching ethics of healthcare practices. Dev World Bioeth. 2004;4:160-172. - PubMed
    1. Stirrat GM. Reflections on learning and teaching medical ethics in UK medical schools. J Med Ethics. 2015;41:8-11. - PubMed
    1. Giubilini A, Milnes S, Savulescu J. The medical ethics curriculum in medical schools: present and future. J Clin Ethics. 2016;27:129-145. - PubMed
    1. Carrese JA, Malek J, Watson K, et al. The essential role of medical ethics education in achieving professionalism: the Romanell report. Acad Med. 2015;90:744-752. - PubMed
    1. Silverberg L. Survey of medical ethics in us medical schools: a descriptive study. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2000;100:373-378. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources