Managing ethics and law in the curriculum
Practice points for managing ethics and law in the curriculum Establish the primary purpose of student learning in medical law and ethics. Understand the educational context of your course. Select from pragmatic, embedded, and theoretical approaches. Weigh the options for integrated or modular structures. Give attention to the interplay of ethics and law.
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Suppose you are a medical teacher whose primary responsibility is in one of the clinical specialities. Perhaps you are contracted to deliver, say, a 0.6 full-time equivalent service commitment within a teaching hospital or in the community. Let us presume that, in addition, a 0.4 proportion of your appointment is explicitly for undergraduate medical educational activity.
You have always been careful to ensure on ward rounds, or in other teaching sessions within your system, that students understand the ethico-legal context of daily clinical practice. The occasion then arises when you are approached by the Teaching Dean to concentrate on taking forward the whole of the ethics and law curriculum for the medical school. You relish the opportunity to have dedicated time in this subject area, but are unsure how best to chart the course before you.
How do you embark on such a task? Miles et al. (1989) stress the requirements of “a dean’s office that is intellectually and financially committed”, an administrative unit dealing specifically with the ethics curriculum, a tutor development programme, plus collegial respect and support in the medical school. In addition, the World Medical Association medical ethics manual (2009) gives advice on making a strong case for ethics, on offering assistance with curriculum development, and on ensuring future continuity of the theme. This AMEE Guide begins with practicalities of managing ethics and law in the curriculum.
First steps
What are the questions that come to mind as you take on this challenging new role? Possibly the first will be the most pragmatic:
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What are the present arrangements for teaching and assessment? Will cover be needed for sessions already timetabled? Is there any urgent curriculum work waiting for my attention? Are there pressing timelines that are my responsibility to work within?
Box 2 suggests an initial approach to defining sets of priorities according to the major tasks of managing curriculum content, delivery, assessment, structure, resources, and evaluation (Leinster 2009). Priorities will shift as time progresses, and the early process of mapping current curriculum content and delivery (Harden 2001) gives way sooner or later to the work of modifying the course design. When entering this future-oriented mode of activity, clarity on the goals of ethics and law in the curriculum becomes especially important.
Guide 53: Ethics and Law in the Medical Curriculum
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