| Learning Objective #1: Identify one pedagogical approach to teaching interdisciplinary responsibility for improved health care delivery | |||
| Learning Objective #2: State core ethical and global society principles supporting undergraduate education and preparation for future practice |
Objective: The objective of this session will be to present the success of a pedagogical approach aimed at increasing interdisciplinary responsibility for improving health care delivery. This approach, grounded in the University Mission to produce ethical leaders and responsible global citizens, utilizes a critical thinking format to engage students in defining global diversity values and ethical behavior to improve overall consumer health in the United States.
Design: Exploratory/descriptive
Sample, Setting, and Years: One hundred forty undergraduate university students enrolled over a two year period in a health care delivery course.
Concept/Variables Studied: Ethical principles, cultural/global diversity, and marketplace/ social justice.
Method: Qualitative thematic analysis organized student responses to a final exam question; this question sought students’ analysis of course content/process for incorporating ethical, cultural, and economic factors into a model for equitable health care delivery. Themes were also analyzed according to social or marketplace justice, two predominant philosophies for health care delivery.
Findings: Through examination of 140 questions, the following themes were isolated: individual freedom to choose health care decisions/consequences; business approach to nurture the U.S. economy and value base; “good” as defined by the individual and not society; and, acceptance of population diversity without sacrificing individual rights.
Conclusions: Despite a semester-long course built on a foundation of ethics and cultural diversity to guide health care reform, students maintained original values supportive of marketplace justice and individual autonomy. Students eager to gain specific professional skills may lack political consciousness to respond to urgent human problems (homelessness, poverty, etc.) that fail to be addressed by the marketplace model and contribute to poor health care outcomes in America.
Implications: Further research must address education processes and timing that effectively support student development, commitment to cultural/global diversity, and an ethical model of behavior aimed at supporting individual and collective responsibility for social health.
Back to Teaching Diversity
Back to 14th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
10-12 July 2003