ETHICAL SENSITIVITY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PHARMACY STUDENTS TAKING AND NOT TAKING AN ETHICS COURSE IN TERMS OF VARIOUS VARIABLES

Objective: The present study aimed to assess ethical sensitivity in second, third, fourth, and fifth-year pharmacy students who have already completed the ethics course in Erzurum province, Turkey, as well as first-year pharmacy students who have not yet taken the ethics course in terms of various variables. Material and Method: This study adopts a cross-sectional design to compare the ethical sensitivity of two groups of pharmacy students: those who have completed an ethics course and those who have not. This study included 476 out of 840 undergraduate pharmacy students from Erzurum province. Differences in ethical sensitivity based on demographic characteristics were analyzed using t-tests and ANOVA. The level of statistical significance was set at 0.05. Result and Discussion: In the comparison between students who have taken the ethics course and those who have not, a statistically significant difference was found between female and male students who have taken the ethics course (p=0.00), indicating that gender plays a role in ethical sensitivity among students who have received ethics education. However, among students who have not taken the ethics course, no statistically significant difference was found between genders (p=0.13). No statistically significant difference was observed among students in different university classes. In the study assessing professional ethical sensitivity among pharmacy students, it was found that their level of ethical sensitivity was above average. To cultivate a heightened level of professional ethical sensitivity, it is widely believed that pharmacy education should integrate more comprehensive training focused on emphasizing the significance of professional behavior and ethical values.