Multidisciplinary development of professional identity through a Problem Based Learning Curriculum

• Aims: Healthcare practitioners operate in an increasingly complex social environment, where daily professional practice requires dealing with problems of social, moral, ethical and legal dimensions. This crucial aspect of "professionalism" is often neglected in the dental curriculum. The aim of this pedagogic project is to use self and peer-assessment to help students develop their professional identity. Through the use of authentic situations , the project aims to confront students with controversial scenarios from professional life and consequently help them define well informed strategies. Materials and Methods: This project is a collaboration between the Faculty of Odontology, the School of Social Sciences and the School of Education, University of Malmo¨, Sweden. All three disciplines have with the help of students developed "cases" based on authentic scenarios. These cases include controversial situations extending in the field of professional ethics, law, sociology and morality. The dentist, teacher or sociologist has to take decisions that can significantly affect the life of others. Students are asked to identify the best possible strategies to deal with the problems, based on scientific evidence but also laws, professional ethics and social structures. The cases will be used for self-assessment and peer assessment in groups, as described by the Interactive Examination methodology. In brief this implies that the students describe, analyse and act, compare their own and other students´ or teachers’ ways to deal with a problem, and consequently articulate their needs of new competencies and define new learning objectives. Conclusions: The ability to successfully handle social, ethical and legal dimensions of patient treatment is a significant dimension of professionalism, which often is neglected in our curricula. This multidisciplinary project aims to broaden and strengthen the professional identity of dental students, thus better preparing them to operate in a complex society.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

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