Medical students and controversial ethical issues: results from the multicenter study SBRAME.

Giancarlo Lucchetti,Leandro Romani De Oliveira,Alessandra Lamas Granero Lucchetti,José Roberto Leite

doi:10.1186/1472-6939-15-85

Giancarlo Lucchetti, Leandro Romani De Oliveira + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6939-15-85

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Abstract

BackgroundMedical students(MS) will face ethical issues throughout their lives as doctors. The present study aims to investigate medical students’ opinions on controversial ethical issues and factors associated with these opinions.MethodsSBRAME (Spirituality and Brazilian Medical Education) is a multicenter study involving 12 Brazilian medical schools with 5950 MS. Participants completed a questionnaire that collected information on socio-demographic data, medical schools characteristics, religious beliefs and opinions on controversial ethical issues. Of all MS, 3630 participated in the survey (61.0%).ResultsThe sample was 53.8% women and the mean age was 22.5 years. In general, most MS have no objections to prescription of birth control (90.8%), adult stem cell use (87.5%), embryonic stem cell use (82.0%) and abortion for genetic reasons (51.2%). Approximately half of students have no objections to human cloning (47.3%), 45.7% to withdrawal of artificial life support, 41.4% to euthanasia and 23.3% to abortion for failed contraception. Socio-demographic data such as age, gender and income had little influence on MS opinions. On the other hand, medical schools characteristics (number of medical students in the university, year of medical school foundation, location of the university and type of university) and religious aspects (religious affiliation, religious attendance, non-organizational religiousness and intrinsic religiousness) were highly correlated with their opinions. In general, MS with more supportive opinions on controversial ethical issues were less religious and from non-traditional (newer), urban, public and bigger universities.ConclusionThe current study reveals MS have different opinions regarding controversial ethical issues. Noteworthy, these opinions seem to be shaped more by university characteristics and religious beliefs than socio-demographic data.

Highlights

Medical students(MS) will face ethical issues throughout their lives as doctors
Sample A total of 3630 medical students participated in the study with a response rate of 61.0%
All medical schools have a course on medical ethics

Summary

Methods

Study design SBRAME (Spirituality and Brazilian Medical Education) is a cross-sectional, multicenter study involving 12 Brazilian medical schools that enrolled 5950 medical students (MS) [12]. Happiness (adapted from Curlin et al [5]) and Satisfaction with the medical course: assessed through the questions: (1) “If you were to consider your life in general these days, how happy or unhappy would you say you are, on the whole?” with possible answers “Very happy”, “Happy”, “Not very happy” and “Not at all happy”; (2) “How much are you satisfied studying to become a doctor?” “Very satisfied”, “Satisfied”, “Not very satisfied” and “Not at all satisfied”. – Independent variables: gender, age, undergraduate year, Number of medical students in the university, type of university (public or private), Year of medical School foundation, income, location of the university (urban or rural), intrinsic religiousness, religiousness attendance, non-organizational religiousness, happiness (“Very happy” to “Not at all happy”), satisfaction with the course (“Very satisfied” to ”Not at all satisfied”),. Ethical issues Participants gave written informed consent and the study was approved by the ethics committee of Universidade Federal de São Paulo and all other medical school committees

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Conclusion

Discussion

Conclusions