What Would Hippocrates Say? Improving Moral Competence in Prospective Health Care Providers 1985–2020

• In Event: Roundtable Discussions on Moral Development and Education 2

Abstract

Objectives. Moral competence is essential for judgment and decision making in the health professions. Fostering this competence should be one of the goals of medical education. This paper examines whether medical education achieves this goal. Methods. One cross-sectional research study based on the Moral Competence Test (Lind 1978/2020) was conducted with Polish medical students and 13 similar, previously published/ documented studies from 9 countries (1985-2020) were revisited (total N=4292). Results. In all studies, the resulting C-Indexes (C=competence) decreased during medical education. Discussion. This finding suggests that the failure to foster moral competence in medical students isn’t a local or interim phenomenon. Our paper provides possible explanations and also recommends efficient training to stimulate students’ moral competence.

Authors

• Ewa Nowak, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

• Georg Lind, University of Konstanz

• Anna-Maria Barciszewska, Medical University of Poznan