The aim of this study was to describe specialist ambulance nurse students’ experiences of ethical conflicts and dilemmas in prehospital emergency care. In the autumn of 2015, after participating in a mandatory lecture on ethics, 24 specialist ambulance nurse students reported experiences and interpretations concerning conflicts and ethical dilemmas from prehospital emergency care. The text consisted of 24 written critical incidents which were interpreted using hermeneutic text interpretation. The text revealed three themes: Not safeguarding a patient’s body and identity; Not (...) agreeing on the care actions; and Not treating the patient with dignity. The SANs experiences ethical dilemmas and conflict of values when they witness how others violate a patient’s dignity. Discussion and reflection is based on ethical conflicts and dilemmas experienced when students see how caregivers do not safeguard the patient’s body or identity. When caregivers have a conflicting will, it results in patients not being treated in an ethical manner. Also, seeing how caregivers put themselves in a power position over patients is described as an ethical dilemma that students experience when they choose not to intervene. (shrink)

This paper measures the effectiveness of a professional ethics course using the MacIntyrean Philosophical Approach which incorporates virtues, narrative, tradition, and community. There has been limited empirical work using this framework in which the emphasis has been on ‘thick descriptions’ created through narrative, mainly the case methodology. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no attempt to quantify the constructs of the MPA which is one of the contributions of our paper. Our approach is the first to use (...) a mixed method approach in applying the MPA and utilizes ten virtues captured in the Moral Competency Inventory, developed by Lennick et al., to measure virtues at the personal and social levels. Data were collected from eighty-nine students and analyzed using various multivariate techniques including Exploratory Factor Analysis, MANOVA and Structural Equation Modeling. The results were also triangulated with self-reflective essays that were analysed using content analysis. The findings showed that students’ virtues were higher after exposure to the MPA which confirmed that it had a significant and positive impact on the delivery of the professional ethics course. (shrink)

Scientific endeavor is the pursuit of knowledge with the aim of advancing the welfare of all human beings. This endeavor is built on the ideology of science; thus, society relies on the integrity of the practice of science and of scientists themselves. The responsible conduct of research is the essence of good science; however, many of the pedagogical approaches used to instill integrity in science accentuate the negative rather than exemplify ideal professionalism. This paper makes an argument for the inculcation (...) of the appropriate conduct of research via a positive approach. We address the acclimation to the culture of science that supersedes diverse cultural backgrounds of students. We suggest techniques for the implementation of positive strategies and reinforce the benefit of approaching the teaching of ethical behavior as a competitive advantage. We highlight ways in which this approach can empower the individual scientist and the scientific community as a whole. Transmission of the culture of scientific professionalism formalizes the aims of an ideal scientific professional and encourages assimilation and identification as a member of the scientific profession. We purport that instilling scientific professionalism will spur responsible conduct of research. (shrink)

A recent conference had as a theme, Ethics in the Fractured State. That theme presumes that there is a fractured state – if not everywhere then somewhere, if not now, then soon. This paper looks at the nature of the fracture and at the implications for the teaching of ethics. Three important lines of fracture – plural, secular, anti-business – are considered in the paper, each described and distinguished separately. The fracture makes ethics more relevant not only in business schools (...) but also in professional faculties such as engineering and pharmacy. The recent rise in anti-business sentiment and its potential impact for the teaching of ethics, especially business and professional ethics, is discussed. The focus is on the implications for the teaching of applied ethics. (shrink)

Ethics education in the professions has become close to compulsory with continuing education following suit. What is the de facto as opposed to the de jure function of an ethics education program? Have they increased compliance with laws and codes of conduct? Is that the goal? What would an ethics education program look like that was not primarily concerned with compliance with relevant laws or professional codes and not merely an exercise in good public relations? I argue that, ultimately, ethics (...) education is about happiness… not happiness as we generally think of it today, but in the Aristotelian sense of “fulfillment” and the collateral good that is generated for clients and the profession. As a result of this point of view I argue that ethics is not a subject in the normal sense of the term but a meta-subject which implies that teaching ethics as a class or stand alone module in a law, policy or practice management course is usually ineffective. Another implication is that the richest source for moral reflection within a profession are case studies generated by students in clinical assignments, despite the inherent risks associated with making these cases prominent. (shrink)

Responsibility is one of the most important attitudes for people in relation to others. Human existence becomes meaningful if it realizes that responsibility for others and one takes it as an invitation to act ethically. Emmanuel Levinas has shared his thoughts on responsibility in his writings and works. Although Levinas’ ethics of responsibility come across as metaphysical, his thinking is radical and touches human’s daily life. The essence of Levinas’ responsibility for the ethical actions of a teacher are: the presence (...) of the student as an existential fact teacher; teachers as saviors for learners; responsibility to the student as the basis of the teacher’s existence; the responsibility of humanizing himself, the responsibility making teachers unique from others; the teacher’s responsibility of concrete and asymmetrical action. Levinas’ concept of responsibility provides inspiration for ethical action for teachers at school. For this reason, teachers need to have an attitude of absolute responsibility towards their student’s lives. (shrink)

Ethical leadership skills are crucial for professionally competent engineers working in a global context. This article explores the possibility of integrating a non-Western ethical tradition of Confucian ethics into the teaching of ethical leadership in engineering ethics. First comes a brief discussion of the historical origins of Confucianism and its persistence in contemporary Chinese culture. Second is a conceptualization of the major aspects of Confucian ethical leadership including moral power, role modeling, and meritocratic ethical leadership, introducing a prevalent approach to (...) developing ethical leadership in the Confucian tradition: self-cultivation. The practice of self-cultivation often includes three interrelated processes: observation, reflection, and practice. The Confucian development of ethical leadership goes through four different moral psychological stages: beginner, developing learner, junzi, and sage. Finally, I discuss potential implications of the Confucian understanding of ethical leadership for teaching engineering ethics. (shrink)

This article is about a beautiful book by a not so beautiful author, Forrest Carter’s The Education of Little Tree. I will first reflect on the usually fraught relationship of literature and morality. I then will give a flavor of the moral fiber of Carter’s novel and then turn to some darker undercurrents, examining whether they intersect with the value of the work, whether we need them to intersect, and whether they ultimately submerge any initial judgments of the book. The (...) core issue is how and whether to continue to teach such works as worthy and beautiful literature despite deeply disturbing facts about the authors of such works. Finally, as we often have personal connections to our favorite books, how should such connections factor in while choosing whether to teach such works even if now aware of their problematic legacies? (shrink)

Program evaluation in education is a process for investigating the strength and weakness of on educational program. Instructors and teacher will find the point for improvement in the program and this process will led to reach the expected outcomes of education. PhD of medical ethics as a scientific discipline launched since 2009 in IRAN and the documented curriculum of this program proposed some learning experiences and competencies for the graduates of this program. After running 9 cycle of the program in (...) three universities, the board of the Medical Ethics intended to evaluate the program. Therefore the aim of this study was to evaluate the educational program of PhD of medical ethics in Iran. This program evaluation was done based on utilization focused approach. Based on the aim of the study and the flexibility that the approach allowed us, we chose the qualitative method of data gathering. Data were collected from in depth interview by academic staff of the program in all three centers, program instructors and educational experts. Student’s opinion gathered through three focus group discussion in educational departments. The evaluation question designed based on the literature review. The findings of this study are presented here based on main evaluation questions. The findings showed that there are some shortcomings in the program documents and also there are administrative issues. It seems that the program itself and also its application in universities need some improvement. Also the entrance exam and policies need some revision and the development of the medical ethics as a discipline need interdisciplinary coordination and communications. Based on the finding of the study we propose recommendations for the program per se and for the medical ethics discipline as a scientific field. (shrink)

Advancements in biological ageing research have shown that age-related diseases may be fought more effectively in the future by directly intervening into the ageing process. This prospect is associated with hopes for solving problems of demographic change. It also addresses raising awareness for complex ethical, legal and social issues that have hardly been a topic of discussion to date. Therefore, as the objective of our project, an interdisciplinary discourse module entitled “Ethics of Biogerontology” was developed to initiate a social debate (...) on the ethical, legal, and societal implications of biogerontology. The discourse module focuses on competences and argumentation skills and was developed with experts from relevant disciplines, e.g. biogerontology, social gerontology, philosophy, geriatrics, and medical ethics. Concepts of age and ageing are tightly interlinked with biogerontology and are as such relevant as teaching contents of the discourse module. The course module was tested in eight discourse teaching projects in research, medicine, and education in various partner institutions and evaluated based on an ethical competence model. This article describes the conception, including the learning objectives, of such a teaching course and the associated teaching contents. It also gives a justification for their selection. Finally, we summarize the results of the evaluation. (shrink)

The University of Malta has had a Master of Arts in Bioethics for several years delivered by the Faculty of Theology. Although there were medics invited to teach in this degree the Bioethics Research Programme of the Faculty of Medicine noted that the degree was top theoretical and was not meeting the needs of the Faculty and the attached hospital. Rather it contended that it needed to train medics in Clinical Ethics and to prepare some of them to specialise in (...) the field. Following failed attempts to either change the MA degree to cater for these needs or to have a collaborative degree, the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery proposed that a new degree by designed. This did raise some debate but finally both faculties participated in each other’s degree course. Within the local context a distinction had to be made to distinguish bioethics from the more skill-approached version, which it called Clinical Ethics, acknowledging that in many countries bioethicists may be skill-trained to work in the hospital environment. The paper discusses the development and philosophy of the Master of Science in Clinical Ethics & Law within the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery and give a description of the modules involved and the importance to acknowledge the difference between a theoretical degree in bioethics and one which provides bioethicists with skills that enable them to practice clinical ethics on the ward. (shrink)

Since philosophy is a notoriously difficult subject, one may think that the concept of adding rigor to a philosophy course is misguided. Isn’t reading difficult texts by Immanuel Kant or Friedrich Nietzsche enough to categorize a class as academically rigorous? This question is based on the misguided assumption that academic rigor has only to do with course content. While course content is a component of academic rigor, other aspects such as higher-order thinking, as well as how an instructor designs and (...) grades assignments, contribute to the level of academic rigor in a course. The author provides several ways to increase the level of academic rigor in a philosophy course based upon Bloom’s Taxonomy using examples from an introductory ethics course and then provides recommendations as to how to grade to promote academic rigor. (shrink)

This study investigates the relationships among Machiavellianism, attitudes towards the perceived importance of corporate ethics and social responsibility, referred to here as PRESOR attitudes, and certain attitudes toward environmental responsibility, i.e., support for corporate environmental accountability and environmentally motivated purchasing intentions, amongst undergraduate students. Data were collected from a survey of all final year undergraduate students at a university in Hong Kong. Structural equations analyses were used to investigate the associations amongst the variables. The study finds that Machiavellianism and belief (...) in the importance of CESR play important roles in the development of university students’ attitudes toward certain environmental issues. Specifically, high Machiavellian students expressed lower levels of belief in the importance of CESR, which in turn were associated with weaker pro-environment views. The findings suggest that educational efforts to cultivate students’ PRESOR attitudes and/or reduce their levels of Machiavellianism would enhance their pro-environment views. (shrink)