37th ESPMH Conference – Talk: How can we foster competency-oriented ethics teaching and learning in the health professions? Outcomes of the KOMETH-Learn project in Germany

First author: Dr. Annett Wienmeister (1)

Co-authors: Dr. Tobias Eichinger (2), Dr. Corinna Klingler (3), Julia Wüstefeld (3), and Dr. Katja Kühlmeyer (3)

(1) Institute for the History of Medicine and Ethics in Medicine at the Charité Berlin, Germany
(2) Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
(3) Institute of Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine, LMU Munich, Germany

Abstract: Ethics teaching for health professions and disciplines should not only aim to impart knowledge, but above all to give students the opportunity to acquire competencies for their future professional activities. Ethical competencies consist of the abilities to align professional action with and reflect on professional ethical standards. They include the abilities to identify an ethical question or problem, to take different perspectives on issues, to make sound ethical judgments, and to realize an ethically justifiable action in practice. Ethical competencies prepare future professionals for solving new and vexed challenges such as a global pandemic.

Lecturers and teachers who are interested in competency-oriented teaching in the education and training of health professions need to be able to define ethical competencies, choose competence-based learning objectives, and select suitable didactic methods and appropriate strategies for assessing the skill level of students. Furthermore, they need to evaluate their learning arrangements with regard to their aims, which requires performance tests that assess competencies in students. However, the corresponding teaching skills neither have been described sufficiently in this field nor have they been taught in a structured manner, yet. In the German-speaking countries, for example, very few articles or books are concerned with the didactics of competency-oriented ethics teaching in the health professions. At the same time, curricula for academic and professional education are currently being realigned, putting an emphasis on the acquisition of (ethical) competencies.

In this talk, we will present the work of the “ethik learning” group at the Academy of Ethics in Medicine (AEM). It has been dedicated to describing, promoting and reflecting on competency-oriented ethics teaching and learning in the health professions (e.g. medicine, nursing, midwifery). It is directed at educators from scientific and clinical institutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As part of the KOMETH-Learn project, the group aims at enabling and encouraging academic and professional teachers to develop competency-oriented teaching formats and to implement innovative didactic approaches. The goals have been achieved by developing and providing: a) a repository of case vignettes and a collection of competency-oriented teaching concepts in the form of a digitally available „ethics teaching toolbox“ (www.medizinethiklehre.de/toolbox), b) a text- and workbook for ethics teaching and c) a training concept “teach-the-teacher” for knowledge transfer between the working group and fellow ethics educators. Furthermore, the project will intensify the group’s national and international networking activities to allow for knowledge-transfer across different areas and disciplines. The speakers will furthermore reflect on the potential as well as on challenges of competency-oriented ethics teaching in the health professions and disciplines at a conceptual, organizational and practical level.