Date of Award
10-1-1990
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Abstract
Daytona Beach Community College offers training in eight allied health areas including dental assisting, surgical technology, respiratory care, medical record technology, health unit coordinator, radiology technology, human services and child development. Students enrolled in these programs currently do not receive any formal course work or training in the area of ethics. A survey of the allied health instructors indicated three reasons for the lack of instruction in the area of ethics: (1) lack of formal training in the area by the instructors, (2) lack of time to thoroughly research the topic, (3) a lack of time in the program's curriculum to include an in depth study of ethics. The purpose of this study was to develop an individualized study system in health care ethics that would address the three reasons cited by the instructors and fulfill the students' need in this area. In order to determine the most pressing ethical issues, the allied health instructors were again surveyed. They identified several issues, for example, inadequate staffing, confidentiality of patient's records, and the termination of life support equipment. However, most of the instructors felt that the most critical need was for the students to receive a basic understanding on how to deal with any of the variety of ethical issues they would likely face. The instructors also indicated that while there was limited time in their programs for additional instruction, they felt that an instructional system that took advantage of free time blocks, while waiting for patients and procedures in clinical and externship training, would be effective. Three ethics experts, a physician bioethics consultant, a college professor and a health care professional who is an author of health care ethics continuing education material, were also consulted on the appropriate content areas and direction for ethics instruction for community college allied health students. They agreed with the allied health instructors on both the appropriate content and specific ethical issues. In order to determine the most appropriate instructional design, twenty-five allied health students and eight allied health instructors evaluated three proposed models. They selected a model that provided instruction along with an opportunity for students to respond to questions followed by immediate feedback. Utilizing the selected instructional design, the instructors' and ethics experts' recommendations on content and specific issues, along with appropriate resources as a guide, an individualized instructional system was developed. While the instructional system does require the student to interact with an instructor and professionals in their area of study, it is otherwise self-contained. Video and audio tapes were also developed to serve as resources as well as to accommodate different learning styles. The completed individualized instructional system was evaluated by the experts in the area of ethics for appropriateness of content. It was evaluated by local instructional administration for effectiveness of instructional design. These same instructional administrators, who have experience in implementing new programs and courses, were also utilized to develop a detailed implementation plan. An on-going student and instructor evaluation plan following each use was developed and included as part of the instructional system. The outcome of this study was a self-contained written individualized instructional system, a sixty-minute video tape and two audio tapes totaling sixty-minutes. The video tape and audio tapes provide an overview of the topic and serve as an supplement to the written instructional system. It is required that a student who studies the written instructional system either view the video tape or listen to the audio tape. It is recommended that all students enrolled in allied health programs be required to complete the individualized instructional system. It is also recommended that students be given credit toward their clinical grade for completing the individualized study system. Furthermore, it is recommended that the system be distributed to other community colleges and utilized in their allied health programs. Finally, it is recommended that consideration be given to developing a one to two credit course from the individualized instructional system.