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Professional Ethics and Moral Education in the Medical Language Curriculum – Can It Be Done?

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Foreign Language Teaching in Romanian Higher Education

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 27))

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Abstract

Inspired by experience and informed by literature, the author attempted to manipulate and measure the effects of ethical-moral inputs in teaching medical English in a Romanian context (where language classes are compulsory in junior years, coinciding with psychology, sociology and ethics classes). An original, 20-hour didactic experiment merged medical, language and moral education into one. Control groups focused on language accuracy to transfer general language skills to medical settings and develop familiarity with jargon. Experimental groups did the same, while also addressing the ethics of communication and using methods for moral growth at behavioural level. Data from 150+ students came through pre−/post testing, questionnaire survey, diaries, direct observation. Quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that experimental groups increased medical ethics sensitivity, cognitive ability with moral dilemmas, awareness of and commitment to core medical values, all statistically significant. Concurrently, small significant differences in medical terminology acquisitions favoured control groups. The study shows beneficial transversal benefits and warns of predictable limitations. It can help enrich medical language curricula by integrating moral development, thus facilitating future professional interactions that are both effective AND ethical.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Striking a balance between detachment and empathic response is a common dilemma among medical students.

  2. 2.

    Most often most students did not.

  3. 3.

    Self-reported data obtained from the questionnaire-based survey is not dealt with in here.

  4. 4.

    These were starting points and fertile ground for less familiar medical terminology.

  5. 5.

    In these examples of student writing, the original spelling and grammar are kept unchanged.

  6. 6.

    The significant difference noted is backed by the Jonckheere-Terpstra test coefficients.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter is based on PhD research completed by the author at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania (funded by the European Social Fund and the Romanian Government: RO08-POSDRU-6/1.5/S/25), and with prior written approval from the Ethics Committee at the “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iași.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Interdisciplinarity, Faculty of Medicine, Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iași, Romania

    Ioana Creţu

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  1. Ioana Creţu
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Correspondence to Ioana Creţu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication, Faculty of International Business and Economics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

    Lucia-Mihaela Grosu-Rădulescu

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Creţu, I. (2018). Professional Ethics and Moral Education in the Medical Language Curriculum – Can It Be Done?. In: Grosu-Rădulescu, LM. (eds) Foreign Language Teaching in Romanian Higher Education. Multilingual Education, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93329-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93329-0_14

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