Table 1.
Medical students’ attitudes toward ethics and its teaching.
| Gender |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| (Cronbach’s α 0.649) | Female (N = 84) Mean±SD |
Male(N = 24) Mean±SD |
Overall (N = 108) Mean±SD |
| 1. Professionalism can be taught and learned. | 6.94 ± 1.82 | 6.96 ± 1.52 | 6.94 ± 1.75 |
| 2. Ethics CANNOT be taught and learned. | 3.58 ± 2.40* | 2.63 ± 1.66 | 3.36 ± 2.28 |
| 3. Ethics should be formally taught in the medical school curriculum. | 7.52 ± 1.48 | 6.75 ± 2.23 | 7.35 ± 1.70 |
| 4. Attitudes and values are set (fixed, established) by the time students reach residency. | 6.27 ± 2.16 | 5.75 ± 2.40 | 6.15 ± 2.22 |
| 5. There are NO right and wrong answers to ethical issues questions. | 6.37 ± 2.08 | 5.38 ± 2.39 | 6.15 ± 2.18 |
| 6. Ethics is a discipline with its own methods, literature, vocabulary, and content. | 7.06 ± 1.68* | 5.83 ± 2.65 | 6.79 ± 1.99 |
| 7. Attitudes and values are learned from family, culture, and religion. | 7.95 ± 1.29 | 8.08 ± 0.93 | 7.98 ± 1.22 |
| 8. Attitudes and values are NOT an appropriate focus for undergraduate medical education. | 2.71 ± 2.03 | 2.88 ± 2.25 | 2.75 ± 2.07 |
| 9. Physicians should possess professionalism. | 8.31 ± .94 | 8.08 ± 2.00 | 8.26 ± 1.25 |
| 10. Selection of residents should NOT include assessment of professionalism. | 2.96 ± 2.05 | 3.46 ± 2.21 | 3.07 ± 2.09 |
| 11. Evaluation of students should include assessment of professionalism. | 7.36 ± 2.02 | 7.67 ± 2.20 | 7.43 ± 2.06 |
| 12. Ethical conflicts are common in the everyday practice of medicine. | 7.69 ± 1.34* | 8.29 ± 0.81 | 7.82 ± 1.27 |
| 13. Training in ethics does NOT help medical students deal with ethical conflicts | 3.13 ± 1.94 | 2.92 ± 1.98 | 3.08 ± 1.94 |
| 14. Students face different ethical issues at different points in their training. | 7.91 ± 1.18 | 7.50 ± 1.67 | 7.82 ± 1.31 |
| 15. Medical training fosters unethical behavior. | 4.15 ± 2.25 | 4.67 ± 2.08 | 4.26 ± 2.21 |
| 16. Medical training fosters professionalism. | 7.06 ± 1.75 | 6.58 ± 1.59 | 6.95 ± 1.72 |
| 17. Medical training fosters cynicism. | 4.56 ± 2.22 | 4.42 ± 2.08 | 4.52 ± 2.18 |
| 18. Students receive adequate training to handle the ethical conflicts they may face. | 5.23 ± 2.15 | 4.92 ± 1.93 | 5.16 ± 2.10 |
| 19. Attention to attitudes, values, and ethical issues helps to prevent cynicism in medical training. | 7.01 ± 1.53 | 6.79 ± 1.96 | 6.96 ± 1.63 |
| 20. It is important that physicians-in-training take an oath or declaration to uphold the values of the profession. | 6.98 ± 1.89 | 6.67 ± 2.46 | 6.91 ± 2.02 |
| 21. Psychiatrists must abide by a different set of ethical guidelines than other physicians. | 5.61 ± 2.29 | 5.25 ± 2.33 | 5.53 ± 2.29 |
| 22. Psychiatrists must abide by a stricter set of ethical guidelines than other physicians. | 5.58 ± 2.48 | 6.50 ± 1.77 | 5.79 ± 2.36 |
| 23. Physicians are more ethical than the general public. | 5.59 ± 2.06 | 5.71 ± 2.22 | 5.62 ± 2.09 |
| 24. Most faculty physicians behave ethically towards students. | 5.77 ± 2.03* | 4.38 ± 2.55 | 5.46 ± 2.23 |
| 25. Most faculty physicians behave ethically towards patients. | 6.62 ± 1.65 | 6.29 ± 1.99 | 6.55 ± 1.73 |
| Group means | 6.54 ± .65 | 6.45 ± .90 | 6.52 ± 0.72 |
1. Rated on a scale from 1 = ‘much less’ to 5 = ‘same’ to 9 = ‘much more’ attention needed compared to now.
*Statistically significant difference between male and female, P < 0.05