Ethics in the Education System
SUKHIT PHAOSA VASDI, MD*, SURASAK TANEEPANICHSKUL, MD*, YUEN TANNIRANDORN, MD*, CHUMSAK PRUKSAPONG, MD*, PINIT KULLA VA NUA Y A, MD**
Affiliation : * Member of Thai Medical Association. **President of the Royal College of Physicians of Thailand, Secretary-General of Medical Council.
Learning and teaching ethics for doctors were brought to attention and have been practiced
for a long time but because ethics is a very different and difficult subject, the exact contents or
syllabus cannot be found and accepted for teaching, practice and auditing (assessment, assessing). This
may be against nature, similar to making gold from lead, or making bad people from good people or
vice versa. Should we accept that to be against nature is difficult, does not work and should not be
done. Because of this, teaching ethics is difficult to see the result but teaching is still being done all
over, some places more than others, sometimes aggressively and sometimes with slackness.
If you are interested or are given the job of looking after the teaching of ethics in are Educa
tional Institution for the beneficial effect of producing graduates of that Institution, can you think of
anything that can be done?
It should be a good feeling and an honour to be asked to cooperate in producing good quality
graduates for that institution, especially if you are a lecturer in a university which has freedom in
work and expression of ideas. So we would like to invite you to think how to increase the number of
lecturers and stimulate lecturers to teach ethics more and often. We have to have cooperation, to discuss
the contents, and steps in the teaching. In the beginning there will be a Jot of discussion especially
regarding the contents, methods, time, and auditing.
From where do we choose the contents, which textbook, and how to make it appropriate to
each department? Some departments do not have patients, and if there are patients, clinical departments
are not exactly the same. Some departments have live patients, some only dead ones, of different ages,
sex, relatives, races, cultures, languages and religions etc. Therefore, things are somewhat complicated
and the contents of ethics for doctors do not have a ready made formula that can be brought into prac
tice like knowledge in diseases. Is it true that all the teaching that is being used presently is obtained
from the experience of lecturers which later was developed into lecture (syllabus). Therefore, dis
agreements, respect and disrespect, occur frequently.
As for the present methods of teaching, it is believed that lecturing has very little success.
There is no active learning between lecturer and the audience. Many of the listeners fall asleep. The
contents of the lecture has already been given out or copied from a textbook. Therefore, the teaching
method was changed from a lecture to a small group discussion, seminar, or symposium. This is so
that the policy of "student centered" is created. The lecturer is there to stimulate, control, and advise
the process of discussion. This method of teaching or learning needs many lecturers and a lot of time.
But the worst part is that the respect of other lecturers for the lecturer who teaches ethics and this
may be an obstacle for the success of asking for help and support from all teachers. How to separate
the heart (feeling of antagonistic) from the brain (reasoning) that this is work. This is a request for help
from all teachers. One should not mix the personal feelings of dislike for a teacher with work.
To divide time of teaching appropriately is also very difficult. All the medical teachers in
medical schools are asking for more time to teach students because of the ever increasing medical
contents. Teachers always mean well to their students, they want to teach, explain, discuss knowledge,
and present cases to their students so that when the students graduate they can practice with pride and
honour. Medical knowledge in the profession of medicine is similar to other professions, learn the
knowledge so as to be able to practice well which will bring benefit to society.
Therefore, to give time separately for the teaching of ethics is difficult in each department,
even though all teachers see the importance of teaching ethics.
With regards to assessment do we give marks l-4 or grading A-D and can we count this with
the other grades to see the average mark, or do we just give a 'Pass' or a 'Fail'. If the student received
a 'Fail' mark will he or she have to repeat the class, even though the average mark of all subjects is 3
or 4.
Because one of us has studied, and later became a lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine,
Chulalongkorn University, since 2502 or 1959 until retiring in 2001 he has become so attached to this
institution that he thinks he owns it. This is a wrong belief, because the institution does not belong to
any person, but to everyone working there from lecturers, students, residents, nurses, secretaries and
scientists etc. Everyone keeps the institution alive and not just an empty building. Everybody has an
exact job description, for example, teachers have an academic function, to create new knowledge,
develop steps of learning and teaching so as to produce graduates appropriate for society. Nowadays,
society stresses ethics more so it is the direct duty of all teachers to comply or realize that they have
to perform apart from the routine work that they are used to. If asked whether this is new work one
has to ask oneself whether one can neglect this duty or one is being forced to teach ethics. If everyone
helps it is surely better than watching and doing nothing and letting only some teachers do the job
by themselves. Is it wrong to ask whether ethics is one of the subjects like mother and child health,
cancer, infections or reproductive medicine, all of which everyone has to help in teaching?
To make the functions of an institution work it needs a group of personnel acting as the brain
of a department or faculty and this committee must be sensitive to the needs of society and make it
the direction in the development of the department in the future. It should advise what is the way to
reach excellency and how to do this when the teachers in the university have so much freedom.
Keywords : Ethics, Education System
