Targeted need’s assessment: Medical ethics in MBBS curriculum of Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: To assess the learner need’s assessment of medical ethics in undergraduate medical curriculum of Pakistan. METHODS: To establish an actual need, three methods were employed during October 2018. The first included a review of the curriculum for medical ethics as designed by the Pakistan Medical and Dental College (PMDC). A supplementary document “Code of Ethics”, published by Pakistan Medical and Dental College (PMDC), was also reviewed. In the second method, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all 500 undergraduate medical students at Poonch Medical College. Data analysis was performed through SPSS v 23.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, US) at 95% CI. The results were expressed in the form of frequencies. The third method employed was an extensive review of literature to identify gaps and to propose learning strategies. RESULTS: In the section on guiding principles in the curriculum, Ethics is considered as an optional subject. Bioethics is designated to be taught in the 3(rd) year of the MBBS, as part of Forensic Medicine. The agreement to study Medical Ethics Principles as part of the curriculum among final-year medical students saw numbers almost double to 84.61%. The highest majority was seen among final year medical students where 84.6% of the students agreed to study principles of medical ethics as part of their curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: Data and the PMDC curriculum support the incorporation of medical ethics in undergraduate education. Thus, an effective educational program based on the assessment of needs could be developed for medical ethics.