No abstract

With healthcare services in India coming under the consumer protection act, the cases of law suits against doctors are increasing every day. Training our students in ethical conflict resolution is very important in addressing this problem. The teaching modules for training students in ethical conflict resolution are to be tested before implementation. In this study we tested a module for teaching ethical conflict resolution to final MBBS medical students by comparing retention of knowledge by collaborative learning with individual efforts at learning. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 38 students of final MBBS after obtaining informed consent and delivered an interactive lecture on resolving ethical conflicts using Davidson's principles and practice of medicine which is a prescribed textbook for medical undergraduates of our university as a resource material. Pre and post tests were conducted to assess the understanding. Subsequently the students were divided into two groups. Group 1 was given a short break after which the students wrote a long essay answer to solve an ethical case scenario for 10 marks. Group 2 had a group discussion to solve the same case scenario after which they answered the long essay question. Feedback was obtained from both the groups about the teaching learning activity. The long essay answers were assessed by two independent examiners and the performance of students in both the groups was compared. RESULTS: The students were divided into 2 groups by alternate number allocation. Both the groups were comparable in their posttest performance. Group 1 wrote the answer to the long essay by individual effort. The average marks for this group was 5.95+1.25. Group 2 answered the long essay question by collaborative learning and had an average score of 6.95+1.23. There was a significant difference between the two groups with the unpaired t test being 2.48 and p value <0.05. The interrater reliability for the examiners was found to be Kappa=0.42(p <.0.0001) suggestive of moderate agreement. Many students expressed satisfaction with the teaching module. The students from group 1 predominantly liked the module as a way of sensitising about an important issue. The students of group 2 liked the module as a way of collaborative learning. Both the groups opined that inclusion of role plays, videos, integrated interdisciplinary teaching and other tools could be used to improve the learning. CONCLUSION: Collaborative learning is more effective in retention of knowledge in comparison to individual efforts for teaching principles of ethical conflict resolution.

There is a need for overhauling the assessment of cardiovascular system in final MBBS summative exams towards one aligned to the competencies as required in an Indian Medical Graduate. Blueprinting of practical assessment with due weightage assigned to epidemiologically important topics is the need of the hour.