Teaching and learning in interprofessional ethics education: Tutors' perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Ethical dilemmas that arise in the clinical setting often require the collaboration of multiple disciplines to be resolved. However, medical and nursing curricula do not prioritize communication among disciplines regarding this issue. A common teaching strategy, problem-based learning, could be used to enhance communication among disciplines. Therefore, a university in southern Taiwan developed an interprofessional ethics education program based on problem-based learning strategies. This study described tutors' experience teaching in this program. AIM: To explore the phenomenon of teaching and learning in interprofessional ethics education for medical and nursing students from the perspectives of tutors. DESIGN: Phenomenological qualitative research. METHODS: Medical and nursing students completed a 6-week interprofessional ethics education program moderated by either physician or nurse tutors. At the conclusion of the ethics education program, all 14 tutors were invited to participate in focus group interviews. Among them, six tutors (three nursing tutors and three physician tutors) participated in additional individual interviews. All of the contents from the focus group interviews and individual interviews were recorded and transcribed. Using the phenomenological approach, the phenomenon of teaching and learning in interprofessional ethics education were generated. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board. FINDINGS: Three themes emerged from the tutors' teaching perspectives, including the instructor's motivation to teach, the use of narrative case scenarios, and the emphasis on improving interprofessional ethics communication. DISCUSSION: Problem-based learning creates an interprofessional communication platform in interprofessional ethics education. The phenomenon of value convergence between tutors and students, between different students' professions, and between different students' professional maturities is observed. CONCLUSION: Problem-based learning is an effective teaching strategy for creating a communication platform for interprofessional ethics education. Ethic curriculum should emphasize motivating instructor, use narrative case scenarios, and focus on interprofessional communication.

[Considering body ethics in the healthcare profession].

This article uses the theory of body phenomenology and Watson's caring theory to develop and apply body ethics to the clinical healthcare profession. This attempt is meant to facilitate deep, humanistic experiences for healthcare personnel. The analysis of body phenomenology reveals that the soul is banished from her familiar and comfortable "at-home" status when illness and pain invade the body. In such situations, the body becomes an external object that is self-alienated. This experience induces experiences such as solitude and violence. However, it also holds the potential to expose the original morality of the body. Additionally, this article discusses popular tools used in clinical ethics such as principalism and virtual-based ethics, which are based on moral reasoning and moral feeling. In contrast to these, body ethics seek a more profound and humble level of sensibility that is able to implant authenticity into the ethics. Finally, we offer some suggestions related to Watson's caring theory.

Socrates, problem-based learning and critical thinking --- a philosophic point of view.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a learner-centered educational method based on the principles of heuristics and collaboration. It has been considered an effective learning method in general and in professional education, especially in medical education. This article analyzes the thinking structure and philosophical background of PBL through the educational ideas of Socrates and the truth conception of Karl Popper. In the different phases of the PBL process, various truth conceptions will help to formulate the thinking framework of PBL --- from Socrates' truth of openness toward the truth of scientific accuracy of our modern age. Meanwhile, Popper's scientific theory of falsifiability further leads us to discuss the relationship between PBL and critical thinking.

[The ethics of the other].

This article will discuss the ethics of French philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, of which the Other is the main topic. In the first section, we will describe how death is a matter of ethics, because it is caused by a faceless murderer. But in precisely the helplessness of the dead, we touch the most affecting face of the Other. In the second section, we will describe how face is the ethical resistance against any form of violence. In the meantime, I, as the subject, would be brought in case of the calling of the Other, and situated in an ethically asymmetric relationship to him. I will in this relationship take the responsibility for the Other. In the final section, we will discuss outlets for ethics and the possibilities of metaphysics.