Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Interprofessional, Continuing Education Course in Biomedical Ethics Using Problem Based Learning

The study was conducted to investigate the design, and implementation of an interprofessional continuing education (IPE) course in biomedical ethics to healthcare providers; and to evaluate this course. The impact of the course on teamwork and perception among participants was also examined. The course was designed using a problem-based learning (PBL) approach using the We Learn framework (Macdonald, Stodel, Thompson, & Casimiro, 2009). The study was conducted in the Ministry of Health in Oman. The participants of the study included the instructional designer (who was also the researcher), the course instructor, five group instructors, and 28 learners. The learners were different healthcare professionals who work in the four tertiary hospitals in the capital city. The study employed design and development research (Richey & Klein, 2007) and focused on examining the process of product development and evaluation. A case study method was applied for data collection. Data were collected from all of the participants using surveys, interviews, and logs. The study findings indicated there was a decrease in learners' perceptions that may be due to unrealistic entry level. However, they expressed that working in IPE was enjoyable. They had consensus that PBL was appropriate and promoted interactions between learners. Overall, the course was implemented as designed. The course is to be revised and include cases with local context.