The teaching of bioethics certificate

The teaching of bioethics certificate The medical profession can be defined regarding capabilities to act (competencies). A professional should have a capacity for reflection in action and after the action. It must be a highly qualified subject, capable of facing situations with multiple interrelated problems, and in many cases indefinite, for which not always have sufficient information before the action, which often must be carried out under conditions of risk and with possible ethical conflicts. Under these circumstances, assuming responsibilities for the benefit of the patient requires having developed a technical capacity, a unique character and a reflexive and evaluative capacity of the situations.

This complex learning is not only achieved through the acquisition of content but immersion in concrete contexts. Learning must be prepared in such a manner to produce the most realistic professional work situations while safeguarding the integrity and rights of patients. This is achieved, in our view, within the framework of a competency-based curriculum, and preferably using the educational methodology known as problem-based learning. As we can see, the competence to identify and resolve ethical conflicts, one of the minimum essential competencies established by the Institute of MEDICAL LAW AND BIOETHICS, can be adequately purchased with this model.

The generation of new medical professionals involves converting a group of young people into individuals who consistently exhibit consistent behaviors in situations that relate to health. This coherence is achieved after the acquisition of knowledge, development of the skills necessary to put them into practice, and internalization of the values that are the support of professional attitudes.

Knowledge, skills, and attitudes are the three key components of every learning process.

In bioethics and health law, there is a vast body of knowledge that constitutes the body of the discipline, which can be taught through theoretical classes. This knowledge is not mere speculation without practical relevance but is the basic scaffolding that makes possible the acquisition of skills. The student will thus achieve the competencies to act on the ethical conflicts that affect the daily life of the health professions, and also to analyze them critically and make decisions that are ethically consistent. That is, to achieve the competencies that allow it to analyze and resolve ethical conflicts in a rational and prudential way.

There is considerable agreement that the acquisition of skills is the immediate objective of any training process in this area but can hardly develop the skills that are inherent if there is a minimum of knowledge. However, it is not much use for a student to know the theory of medical bioethicsif he does not know how to apply it critically to analyze a clinical case.

That is to say that the two levels are complementary, but also that they present their differences because it is not the same to know theoretically what the elements of informed consent, to have the practical skill to carry out this process with each patient. There is, therefore, an object of knowledge and another one of acquisition of abilities that must be put together in the formation of the students.