DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL CULTURE AMONG FUTURE DOCTORS AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STRATEGIES FOR MORAL EDUCATION IN MEDICAL SCHOOLS

 

Nadezhda A. Antonova¹*, Tatiana S. Ignateva², Margarita V. Emelyanova³

¹Assoc. Prof., Chuvash State University, RUSSIA, nejda@rambler.ru

²Assoc. Prof., Chuvash State University, RUSSIA, tatius67@yandex.ru

³Assoc. Prof., Chuvash State University, RUSSIA, marg_emel@yahoo.com

 

Abstract

In connection with the fundamental transformations in our country in recent decades, modern Russian society has found itself in a difficult situation of a spiritual and moral crisis, when the old moral values ​​have been subjected to ideological criticism, and the new ones have not yet received sufficient scientific justification and public recognition. This situation has had a negative impact on the healthcare system and the system of higher medical education. Therefore, the most important socio-cultural mission of the system of modern domestic higher professional medical education is the mobilization of all available resources to solve effectively the problem of spiritual and moral education of future doctors. Moral education is universal, since the object of moral regulation is the area of ​​relations between the individual and society. To carry out any socially useful activity, the person must have a set of moral qualities. Moral education in a medical school is primarily aimed at the formation of such a set of moral qualities, which is necessary for the performance of any social activity, and, above all, medical one. The study of the problem of moral culture development among future doctors is also due to the need to analyze the situation associated with the increasing trials that the healthcare system has undergone in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the quality of medical care provided, which depends on the professionalism level and moral character of the doctor. In this regard, we believe that the issues of the moral culture development among students of medical schools, the issues of their personal and professional development are more relevant today than ever.

Having made an analysis of the ideas about the essence and content of the concept of “moral culture”, the specifics of the professional activity of a doctor and the features of the moral culture development among future doctors, we came to the conclusion that the formation of a highly moral personality is inextricably linked with the need to identify criteria and develop an appropriate system for determining the level of moral culture formation among future doctors.

Therefore, the purpose of our study was to substantiate the levels of moral culture and determine the initial level of moral culture formation among future doctors (first-year students). We proceeded from the fact that by the time of entering a medical school, an applicant has already formed his own level of moral culture. In the course of our experiment, the following tasks were solved: study and analysis of the current state of the problem of the moral culture formation among future doctors; study and analysis of indicators and levels of the moral culture formation among future doctors. The experimental base of the study was the Medical Faculty of I.N. Ulianov Chuvash State University. The study involved 200 first-year students. To solve the tasks set, diagnostic methods of scientific research were used: questioning, testing, and survey. In the course of the study, in order to determine the initial level of the moral culture formation, we identified the following criteria of moral culture: moral attitude to life and professional values ​​(moral motivation), the ability to empathize, the degree of the moral qualities development, and the involvement of students in the moral process.

The study made it possible, firstly, to characterize first-year students, and secondly, the results of this study confirmed the need to find ways, means, ways to improve the moral culture level of medical students and their moral attitude to universal and professional problems, since today, in the conditions of the crisis state of the morality of Russian society, we need a specialist doctor who, in his work, will combine both the professional and moral components of his personality.

Keywords: Moral culture, diagnostics, criterion, level, future doctor, moral education, medical school.