The aim of this project was to identify cire topics of health care ethics that could be taught through an inter-professioanl approach to pre-registration education. Five nominal group technique workshops were undetaken with academic teaching staff from different professional disciplines to explore core topics. Seven core topics of health care ethics that are common across all disciplines were identified. However each discipline identified applications of these topics which were specific to students in their individual clinical setting rather than to a mixed pre-registration inter-professional context. In addition participants in all workshops identified the need for case studies used in teaching and learning to be specific to the clinical setting encountered by the student. There is evidence that students have difficulty in transferring knowledge from one context to another. In view of this an interprofessional approach to health care ethics teaching to a group who do not encounter shared clinical ethical difficulties may be inappropriate. It is naive to expect a student to discuss confidentiality in relation to occupational therapy practice and relate these principles to mental health. While there are core topics of health care ethics that are relevant across all professional fields caution should be taken when seeking to integrate these into an inter-professional pre-registration programme. It is suggested that inter-professional learning in pre-registration health care ethics should focus on facilitating learning in the clinical area with students who share similar ethical encounters in which case the learning will be truly inter-professional.
Project Leader: Helen Aveyard
Completed: 2003
Category: IPE
Project ref: mp_05
