Abstract:

Background: Although modern medicine can prolong life, physicians experience ethical dilemmas concerning the treatment and healthcare of a dying person. The study aims to determine the effects of ethics education on medical students’ attitudes towards the end of life. Methods: Ninety-seven medical students without ethics education or clinical experience were administered the survey before and after the ethics education on these topics. For the analysis, McNemar test and percentage distribution was used. Results: Of the students, 60,8 % before and 78,4% after the ethics education agreed to the item “The patient should be told that his/her cancer is irreversible” (p=0,009). Of them, 43,3% before and 72,2% after the ethics education agreed to the item “The patient should be connected to ventilation if the family refuses the physician and patient’s shared decision that the patient should be disconnected from the ventilation devices” (p=0,000). Of them, 33% before and 63,9% after the ethics education agreed to the item “When the patient requests to be administered analgesics enough to end his/her sufferings but to kill him/her the physician should administer the medicine if the family agrees to overdose drug administration even though the physician has seen the patient only once” (p=0,000). Conclusions: The students’ respect for patient autonomy regarding decisions about the end of life increased after the students received ethics education, but the level of autonomy regarding practices likely to cause the to die was not at an expected level.

Keywords: