Medical Ethics Education in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Medical ethics has been described as a basis for sound and safe medical practice.However curriculum implementation as taught in Nigeria's medical schools has not shown it to be as described.

Objective: This study sought to describe medical ethics education in the Niger Delta region and identify factors that affect its curricular implementation. 

Method: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted between June 2016 and August 2017 in four medical schools.Structured questionnaires were administered to 105 final year students and 70 of their lecturers.The institutions and human participants were selected by convenient sampling.Nominal scale data were collected and analyzed on a Microsoft Excel spread sheet.

Results: Response rates for students and lecturers were 79%and 61%respectively.For correct meaning of medicalethics 21.4%studentsand 17.4%lecturers responded.Over 67%ofparticipant groups were satisfied with the level ofknowledge of medical ethics they had acquired and over 50%in each group was prepared to practice effective medicine from that knowledge.Opinion of the students shoos that teaching method is limiting effective ethics education,while for the lecturers subject content is a limiting factor.

Conclusion: To derive satisfaction and practice confidence from inadequateknowledge ofmedical ethics calls for caution and care in medical practice in Nigeria.Similarly,not engaging appropriate medical ethics teachers,for example,moral philosophers,limits students'maximum benefit from medical ethics education. To didactic teaching,dialogic and case study methods should be considered in medical ethics education. Furtherstudies are suggested.