Perspective 3

These are difficult times for all of us. Dealing with patients in busy clinics, complicated rounds and exhausting academic activities has made teaching bioethics no less important but more challenging.

Universities and institutes have begun to at least acknowledge the field of bioethics but on the ground, they still struggle to give it due space and importance in their existing medical curricula. “We do not have time for it in our course.” “Ethics is not an essential topic.”  It is astonishing to see that your colleagues and faculty somehow do not understand the importance of medical ethics teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate medical students.

 And then there is the issue of bioethics pedagogy. In the context of a teaching hospital, the question arises whether ethics should be taught alongside the practice of medicine or as an independent module. Then there is the question of how to teach – through interactive lectures or in a small group discussion? As a teacher,  implementing different modes of teaching into very different setups, from lecture halls to small groups, is challenging for me.  Another difficult question is how to assess students in exams, as content that is taught is generally examined in a systematic way. The pandemic has further complicated the scenario. Social distancing, virtual classrooms and inattentive students have made the fluid and philosophical concepts of ethics even more difficult to teach and understand.

Another challenge is not having enough trained bioethics teachers. The faculty teaching ethics at Ziauddin are clinicians with busy schedules, and also teachers of other medical disciplines.  I have been teaching ethics for 5 years now, while also teaching medicine and working as a busy clinician. At times, it is extremely difficult to manage everything but still, I go on. Despite the challenges, learning and teaching medical ethics has been the most satisfying experience of my life.