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A theoretical framework for human and veterinary medical ethics education

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Abstract

In their practice, physicians and veterinarians need to resort to an array of ethical competences. As a teaching topic, however, there is no accepted gold standard for human medical ethics, and veterinary medical ethics is not yet well established. This paper provides a reflection on the underlying aims of human and veterinary medical ethics education. Drawing from published literature on ethics education in the health professions a theoretical framework common to the teaching of human and veterinary medical ethics is proposed, based on three concepts: professional rules, moral virtues and ethical skills. The rules approach relies on the transmission of professional and social values by means of regulatory documents and depends intimately on the knowledge that students have of those documents. The virtues approach involves the inculcation of moral values and virtues that will stimulate students to develop desirable behaviours. The main focus of this approach to ethics is to develop students’ attitudinal competences. Finally, the skills approach is focused on equipping the students with the necessary moral reasoning abilities to recognise and respect the plurality of ethical views that make part of contemporary society. This framework can inform future curriculum development in human and veterinary medical ethics as well as in other health care professions.

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  1. With a total of 635 citations on the SCOPUS database (retrieved at 14-11-2015).

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Acknowledgments

This paper is based on a study which was carried out in collaboration with Anna Olsson, Peter Sandøe, Kate Millar, and Jesper Lassen. I am very grateful for their constructive comments and insightful contributions throughout the course of the study. This study is part of the research project “Why, What, and How to teach Ethics to Veterinary Students in Europe”, funded through grant SFRH/BD/46879/2008 from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Manuel Magalhães-Sant’Ana

  2. IBMC – Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Manuel Magalhães-Sant’Ana

  3. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Manuel Magalhães-Sant’Ana

  4. School of Veterinary Medicine, 248 Veterinary Sciences Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Manuel Magalhães-Sant’Ana

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Magalhães-Sant’Ana, M. A theoretical framework for human and veterinary medical ethics education. Adv in Health Sci Educ 21, 1123–1136 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-015-9658-1

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