The medical undergraduate curriculum at the University of Dundee has evolved in response to changing needs. The new curriculum, introduced in 1995, combines idealism and pragmatism. Underpinning it is the concept that the curriculum is an educational programme where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The concepts contributing to this are: the spiral nature of the curriculum, with its three interlocking phases; a body-system-based approach, with themes running through the cumculum, providing a focus for the students' learning; a core curriculum with special study modules or options; the educational strategies adopted, including elements of problem-based and community-based learning and approaches to teaching and learning that encourage the students to take more responsibility for their own learning; an approach to assessment which emphasizes the overall objectives of the course; an organization and management of the curriculum; and an allocation of resources designed to support the educational philosophy.
Honesty and integrity are key characteristics expected of a doctor, although academic misconduct among medical students is not new.1 A survey of 428 American students in 1980 found that 58% reported cheating during medical school. 2 We assessed students' attitudes and behaviours on "cheating" and aimed to raise awareness of academic misconduct.
Methods and resultsThe survey was initiated, designed, and conducted by students. An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to 676 medical students in all years at Dundee medical school (only half of the fourth years were present at this time). The questionnaire was completed at the end of a lecture and collected by the main researcher (SCR). The questionnaire had 14 scenarios in which a fictitious student, "John," engaged in dishonest behaviour. Students were asked to give their gender, year, and views on informing faculty about misconduct and signing a written declaration.For each scenario, students were asked whether they felt John was wrong and whether they had done or would consider doing the same. Responses were recorded "yes," "not sure," and "no" (students were not given the opportunity to distinguish between "have done" and "would consider doing"). Results were analysed with SPSS by using percentage frequency responses.A total of 461 students (68%) completed the questionnaire. Most students' attitude was that most of the scenarios were wrong. The exceptions were resubmitting work from a previous degree, chatting to a student about an objective structured clinical examination that one student has completed and the other is about to do, lending work to other students to look at, and copying text directly and simply listing the source in a reference list.The proportion of students reporting that they had engaged in or would consider engaging in the scenarios varied from 2% (95% confidence interval 1-3%) for copying answers in a degree examination to 56% (51-61%) for copying directly from published text and only listing it as a reference. About a third of students reported that they had engaged in or would consider engaging in the behaviour described in four of the scenarios: chatting about an objective structured clinical examination, writing "nervous system examination normal" when this hadn't been performed, lending work to others to look at, and copying text directly from published sources and simply listing the source in a reference list.
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