2025
Ethics and Deontology
Name: Ethics and Deontology
Code: MVT15219I
3 ECTS
Duration: 15 weeks/78 hours
Scientific Area:
Veterinary Medicine
Teaching languages: Portuguese
Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese, English
Regime de Frequência: Presencial
Sustainable Development Goals
Learning Goals
This course aims to provide the student with essential skills on the rules of conduct for the responsible and committed exercise of professional activity and the main problems of ethics applied to medicine. Particularly, to evidence principles of:
- Ethical and professional competence
- Honesty and integrity
- Independence and impartiality
- Confidentiality and trust in clients´ relations
- Empathy and respect for animals in all their actions
- Professional responsibility
As well as to develop the following attitudes:
- Critically apply ethical values and conduct
- Respect colleagues, partners, and customers without prejudice or value judgments
- Interact correctly and efficiently with peers, customers, and the public
- Appropriate information to customers, including the costs of services/medicines
- Clarify the existence of conflicts of interest
- Keep clear, accurate, and detailed clinical records.
- Work in an equitable and fair team
- Ethical and professional competence
- Honesty and integrity
- Independence and impartiality
- Confidentiality and trust in clients´ relations
- Empathy and respect for animals in all their actions
- Professional responsibility
As well as to develop the following attitudes:
- Critically apply ethical values and conduct
- Respect colleagues, partners, and customers without prejudice or value judgments
- Interact correctly and efficiently with peers, customers, and the public
- Appropriate information to customers, including the costs of services/medicines
- Clarify the existence of conflicts of interest
- Keep clear, accurate, and detailed clinical records.
- Work in an equitable and fair team
Contents
1. Fundamentals of ethics
- Ethical values and human decision
Ethical vs. aesthetics vs. religious values
- Classical and contemporary ethics
2. Bioethics
-Bioethics vs. Animal Ethics
- Bioethics vs. Animal welfare
- Ethics of animal responsibility and care
Clinical trials and research using animals
Animal Production and Welfare
Veterinary treatment and quality of life
3. Ethical dilemmas
- Euthanasia and Palliative care
- Professionalism
- Decision making
- Animals' abandonment and mistreatment
4. Deontology
- Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinarians
- Professional liability (civil, legal, criminal)
- Informed consente and refusal: treatment and collection of samples
- Veterinary doctor's interpersonal relationships
With the client: professional confidentiality and secrecy, conflict of interest; personal vs professional values
With the team and external colleagues
With the Community
- Legal procedures: clinical report and legal report; animal identification; traceability of an
- Ethical values and human decision
Ethical vs. aesthetics vs. religious values
- Classical and contemporary ethics
2. Bioethics
-Bioethics vs. Animal Ethics
- Bioethics vs. Animal welfare
- Ethics of animal responsibility and care
Clinical trials and research using animals
Animal Production and Welfare
Veterinary treatment and quality of life
3. Ethical dilemmas
- Euthanasia and Palliative care
- Professionalism
- Decision making
- Animals' abandonment and mistreatment
4. Deontology
- Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinarians
- Professional liability (civil, legal, criminal)
- Informed consente and refusal: treatment and collection of samples
- Veterinary doctor's interpersonal relationships
With the client: professional confidentiality and secrecy, conflict of interest; personal vs professional values
With the team and external colleagues
With the Community
- Legal procedures: clinical report and legal report; animal identification; traceability of an
Teaching Methods
The course employs student-centered, active methodologies that promote autonomy, critical thinking, and the integration of ethical values into professional practice. The pedagogical model emphasizes problem-based learning and critical reflection on ethical and deontological dilemmas, aligned with the profile of the future veterinary physician.
Theoretical-practical classes follow the "flipped classroom" model, where students prepare topics in advance based on materials provided by the instructor. The in-person session is dedicated to analyzing, discussing, and solving real or simulated practical cases, allowing the application of ethical and deontological principles to concrete contexts. This approach promotes collaborative learning, assertive communication, and evidence-based decision-making.
Ethical debate and argumentation are fostered through student case presentations and collective reflection on the moral, professional, and legal implications of the conduct under analysis. Activities include self- and peer assessment based on previously defined rubrics, encouraging self-regulation and the development of metacognitive competencies.
Additionally, individual work on ethical analysis and argumentation aims to consolidate ethical reasoning and the ability to formulate well-founded judgments. The combination of exposition, discussion, and practical application establishes a formative pathway that is consistent with the institution's pedagogical model, thereby enhancing the development of critical, ethical, and professional awareness.
Theoretical-practical classes follow the "flipped classroom" model, where students prepare topics in advance based on materials provided by the instructor. The in-person session is dedicated to analyzing, discussing, and solving real or simulated practical cases, allowing the application of ethical and deontological principles to concrete contexts. This approach promotes collaborative learning, assertive communication, and evidence-based decision-making.
Ethical debate and argumentation are fostered through student case presentations and collective reflection on the moral, professional, and legal implications of the conduct under analysis. Activities include self- and peer assessment based on previously defined rubrics, encouraging self-regulation and the development of metacognitive competencies.
Additionally, individual work on ethical analysis and argumentation aims to consolidate ethical reasoning and the ability to formulate well-founded judgments. The combination of exposition, discussion, and practical application establishes a formative pathway that is consistent with the institution's pedagogical model, thereby enhancing the development of critical, ethical, and professional awareness.
Assessment
In-person participation constitutes an integral part of the formative process, being essential for the development of the ethical, deontological, and relational competencies envisioned in this course. Critical reflection, the debate of dilemmas, and ethical argumentation require active involvement, interaction with peers and instructors, and the exercise of listening and respect for diverse perspectives.
For this reason, to be evaluated under the continuous assessment system, students must meet 75% attendance in effective in-person contact hours. Students with special status (excepting those with a TE status) must ensure a 60% attendance rate. This requirement aims to provide adequate conditions for acquiring attitudinal and communicational competencies, which can only be consolidated through direct participation and ethical confrontation in the classroom environment.
Assessment prioritizes the continuity of the learning process and the integration of knowledge, reflection, and practice. The continuous assessment component is based on active student participation, case presentation and discussion, and the application of ethical and deontological principles to concrete situations. This component comprises an oral presentation (OP), subject to self- and peer assessment (60%), and a final knowledge synthesis test (FT), weighted at 40%.
The final assessment is designed for students who do not complete or fail the continuous evaluation. It consists of the preparation and submission of an individual ethical analysis and argumentation paper (FP, 40%) and a written exam (WE, 60%) covering all course content.
Assessment instruments are diversified and aligned with learning objectives, allowing verification of the acquisition of cognitive competencies (critical analysis, argumentation, and decision-making), technical competencies (application of deontological norms), and attitudinal competencies (responsibility, respect, and empathy).
The use of observation rubrics and explicit criteria ensures transparency and objectivity in the assessment process, valuing ethical engagement, scientific rigor, and professional commitment.
For this reason, to be evaluated under the continuous assessment system, students must meet 75% attendance in effective in-person contact hours. Students with special status (excepting those with a TE status) must ensure a 60% attendance rate. This requirement aims to provide adequate conditions for acquiring attitudinal and communicational competencies, which can only be consolidated through direct participation and ethical confrontation in the classroom environment.
Assessment prioritizes the continuity of the learning process and the integration of knowledge, reflection, and practice. The continuous assessment component is based on active student participation, case presentation and discussion, and the application of ethical and deontological principles to concrete situations. This component comprises an oral presentation (OP), subject to self- and peer assessment (60%), and a final knowledge synthesis test (FT), weighted at 40%.
The final assessment is designed for students who do not complete or fail the continuous evaluation. It consists of the preparation and submission of an individual ethical analysis and argumentation paper (FP, 40%) and a written exam (WE, 60%) covering all course content.
Assessment instruments are diversified and aligned with learning objectives, allowing verification of the acquisition of cognitive competencies (critical analysis, argumentation, and decision-making), technical competencies (application of deontological norms), and attitudinal competencies (responsibility, respect, and empathy).
The use of observation rubrics and explicit criteria ensures transparency and objectivity in the assessment process, valuing ethical engagement, scientific rigor, and professional commitment.
Teaching Staff
Certificações
