Short reportUse of role play in undergraduate teaching of ethics – An experience
Introduction
Medical education is a field where proper teaching methods are required in order to embed in the young minds the seeds of correct concepts and right attitude. It helps to nurture in them the saplings of humanity, dignity and respect to human life. Numerous initiatives are taking place all over the globe in order to develop methods for better learning.1, 2, 3, 4 In our setting the usual way of teaching is by the didactic lecture method. The lecture method is good for knowledge acquisition.5 However, occasionally, covering more subject matter and a detailed lecture can be sleep inducing to the students.6
Small group discussion has its own value and role play in particular is helpful in teaching and discussing subjects which have an affective component as well.7 It enables more interaction7 and also facilitates acquisition of communication skills.6
In this medical college, the curriculum approved by the University affiliating about 40 medical colleges is followed. In the said curriculum, students start by reading the code of medical ethics on day one. As the students progress, code, decorum and conduct become part of their learning. Ethics is included in the formal course when they reach second year, in the subject of Forensic Medicine. About 8–10 sessions are usually allotted for this part of the course. When they start patient contact ethics essentially becomes part of their learning. After completing Forensic Medicine, students continue to receive as part of their learning more on desirable attitudes and behavior.
Section snippets
Methods
The batch was composed of 96 students of 2nd year MBBS. Orientation for the task was given in the beginning for all at the same time. The topic chosen was ‘breaking bad news’. The students are usually divided into two big batches – A and B batches of 48 each for the practical, the same was continued. The students belonging to Batch A were given the topic ‘euthanasia’ and the students belonging to Batch B were given the topic ‘consent’ to present as role play. Lecture class was taken on
Results
All the students actively participated in the group activity. They were enthusiastic and were excited about the acting part. They allotted themselves with the roles and made their own dialogs within the given time. Most of the students were thrilled by the experience. They were also deeply involved while performing and agreed that they were more interested in the class than the routine lecture. They also felt more emotions and expressed the same during the performance.
The average marks obtained
Discussion
The result showed that both methods are equally good. However, in order to really assess the impact of the class it is better to observe/assess their interaction with the patients and see how they differ from the other student group which is not taught using the same method. It is not easy to assess the affective domain in theory. The difficulties in teaching and assessment of ethics have been discussed earlier8, 9 with the various methods of assessment used being essays, multiple choice or
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the students, our colleagues Dr. Jagadeesh N, Dr. Kiran M.S of the Department of Forensic medicine and Mrs. Mini Jayan, Statistician, Department of Community medicine.
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