<![CDATA[Medical ethics is a fundamental aspect of medical professionalism that must be understood by every medical student. This study aimed to determine the differences in the level of understanding of the principles of medical ethics between first-year and final-year medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, Abulyatama University. This quantitative study employed a comparative analytical design with a cross-sectional approach. A total of 102 students, consisting of 44 first-year and 58 final-year students, were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire. The level of understanding was categorized into good and poor, and then analyzed using the Pearson Chi-Square test. The results showed that among early-year students, 34 respondents had a good level of understanding with a proportion of 0.773, while 10 respondents had a poor level of understanding with a proportion of 0.227. Among final-year students, 56 respondents had a good level of understanding with a proportion of 0.966, while 2 respondents had a poor level of understanding with a proportion of 0.034. The results of the Pearson Chi-Square test showed a p-value of 0.003, indicating a statistically significant difference in the level of understanding of medical ethics principles between early-year and final-year students. Thus, final-year students had a higher proportion of good understanding compared with early-year students. Keywords: medical students, medical ethics, level of understanding, year of study]]>
