The request for assisted suicide - a challenging topic to teach in medical education. Project report on a compulsory elective course at the Aachen University Hospital.
Alexandra Scherg, Miriam Wegmann, Thekla Biersching, Daniel Fink, Martin Lemos, Frank Elsner
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aim: As part of the Erasmus+ project "ELPIS", a compulsory elective course in palliative medicine on handling wishes to die and the desire for suicide was put into place and offered for the first time at the Clinic for Palliative Medicine at RWTH Aachen University in the 2023 summer semester, both as a classroom-based session and an online session. The aim of this project was to provide students with background knowledge, skills and the opportunity to stake out a position in the ongoing debate on assisted suicide.
Method: The course was initially offered to 15 students in a classroom-based format and entailed 120 minutes during which an introductory lecture and an interactive conversation with a simulated patient were held. A pseudonymized online evaluation took place. In addition to 4 items to collect demographic data, the focus was specifically on capturing personal attitudes toward and knowledge about assisted suicide (6 items). The survey also described the global outcome (4 items) and measured gain in learning on the levels of knowledge, skills and attitude (8 items).
Results: The evaluation showed that assisted suicide is viewed as a form of medical care, but suggests at the same time that there are knowledge deficits concerning end-of-life alternatives. The students' self-assessed level of preparedness increased as a result of the intervention, while their fear of being confronted with a wish for assisted suicide decreased. The opportunity to take up a dynamic stance using an athletic playing field as an aid was perceived as helpful. The specific outcome evaluation showed a gain in learning in all of the dimensions.
Conclusion: The participants displayed an open attitude toward assisted suicide as a form of medical care. At the same time, they felt unprepared and fearful of the responsibility that comes with receiving requests for assisted suicide. In order to gain a better understanding of the students' perspectives and fears, a comparative analysis of the digital course and semi-structured student interviews are currently underway.
期刊介绍：
GMS Journal for Medical Education (GMS J Med Educ) – formerly GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung – publishes scientific articles on all aspects of undergraduate and graduate education in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy and other health professions. Research and review articles, project reports, short communications as well as discussion papers and comments may be submitted. There is a special focus on empirical studies which are methodologically sound and lead to results that are relevant beyond the respective institution, profession or country. Please feel free to submit qualitative as well as quantitative studies. We especially welcome submissions by students. It is the mission of GMS Journal for Medical Education to contribute to furthering scientific knowledge in the German-speaking countries as well as internationally and thus to foster the improvement of teaching and learning and to build an evidence base for undergraduate and graduate education. To this end, the journal has set up an editorial board with international experts. All manuscripts submitted are subjected to a clearly structured peer review process. All articles are published bilingually in English and German and are available with unrestricted open access. Thus, GMS Journal for Medical Education is available to a broad international readership. GMS Journal for Medical Education is published as an unrestricted open access journal with at least four issues per year. In addition, special issues on current topics in medical education research are also published. Until 2015 the journal was published under its German name GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung. By changing its name to GMS Journal for Medical Education, we wish to underline our international mission.
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