Introduction:

The ethical sensitivity as a component of the medical vocation needs to be evaluated with criteria and indicators that allow for comparisons of improvement or deterioration.

Subjects and methods:

Two phases design: cross-sectional observational at the beginning of the sixth semester of the degree and at the end of the seventh semester, and intervention, before and after teaching (subjects Communication, Ethics and Legislation I and II).Instrument of measurement: voluntary group teaching activity (corrected through an evaluation grid validated by consensus between the teaching/research team) consisting of the analysis of a video with a structured script where the participants had to individually detect and write freely the ethical questions they encountered while it was playing. Scope: Faculty of Medicine, University of Zaragoza (216 students, third and fourth year).

Results:

179 students, 72 in third (33%) and 97 in fourth (45%), performed the exercise with 169 responses valid, with paired information (before-after) of 34 students (20.11%). When contrasting the two unpaired cross samples, the fourth graders identified more ethical questions (30.38%) than those of third (20.12%) and qualitatively more subtle. The sample of students with longitudinal follow-up confirms the finding: the average in fourth is 11.62% and in third of 9.53%.

Conclusions:

It is useful to analyze the impact of the teaching tools implemented in the classroom, confirming a greater sensitivity (detection of ethical issues) by the students after the ethics training.

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