Preparedness for practice: Is there a disparity between what undergraduate medical students are taught and what is felt to be essential knowledge in the postgraduate paediatric domain?

Abstract BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate how undergraduate students and junior paediatric doctors performed against an examination of knowledge set by non-academic consultants at a “must –know “ level for starting in paediatrics. We named this the Minimum Accepeted Competency (MAC) examination.MethodsExamination (comprised of 30 MCQ questions) was delivered to undergraduates also to new junior paediatric doctors. Results of this examination ascertained if participants had reached a clinician determined MAC, were compared with official university examination results and compared students to junior doctor performance.ResultsTotal of 478 participants. Mean MAC score was 45.9% for students and 64.2% for doctors (significantly higher [p < 0.01]). A significantly reduced number of students passed the MAC compared with their official university examinations 68% V 97%). A Spearman’s rank co-efficient showed a moderate but statistically significant positive correlation between students results in their official university examinations and their score in the MAC examination.ConclusionThis work demonstrates a disparity between student and junior doctor levels of knowledge with consultant expectations from an exam based on what front-line paediatricians determined to as “must-know” standards. This study demonstrates the importance of involvement of end-users and future supervisors in undergraduate teaching.

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Study of performance on a novel paediatric examination to investigate disparity between what undergraduate medical students are taught and what is felt to be essential knowledge in the postgraduate paediatric domain?

10.21203/rs.3.rs-56063/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Patrick McCrossan ◽

Alf Nicholson ◽

Dara O'Donoghue ◽

Naomi McCallion

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Junior Doctor ◽

Significant Positive Correlation ◽

Daily Practice ◽

Undergraduate Teaching ◽

Front Line ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Essential Knowledge

Abstract BackgroundIt is recognised that newly qualified doctors feel unprepared in many areas of their daily practice and that there is a gap between what students learn during medical school and their clinical responsibilities early in their postgraduate career. This study aimed to assess if undergraduate students and junior paediatric doctors met a Minimum Accepted Competency (MAC) of knowledge.MethodsThe knowledge of undergraduates and junior paediatric doctors was quantitatively assessed by their performance on a 30-item examination. The items within this examination were designed by non-academic consultants to test ‘must-know’ knowledge for starting work in paediatrics. The performance of the students was compared with their official university examination results and with the performance of the junior doctors.ResultsThere were a total of 478 participants. Mean examination score was 45.9% for students and 64.2% for doctors (significantly higher [p<0.01]). A significantly reduced number of students passed the examination compared with their official university examinations (68% V 97%). A Spearman’s rank co-efficient showed a moderate but statistically significant positive correlation between students results in their official university examinations and their score in this investigative examination.ConclusionThis work demonstrates a disparity between both student and junior doctor levels of knowledge with consultant expectations from an examination based on what front-line paediatricians determined as “must-know” standards. This study demonstrates the importance of involvement of end-users and future supervisors in undergraduate teaching.

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Comparison of medical student performance in summative undergraduate paediatric examinations and a clinician-designed minimum accepted competency (MAC) assessment

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/s12909-021-02642-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Patrick McCrossan ◽

Dara O’Donoghue ◽

Alf Nicholson ◽

Naomi McCallion

Keyword(s):

Student Performance ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Junior Doctor ◽

Daily Practice ◽

Undergraduate Teaching ◽

Junior Doctors ◽

Front Line ◽

Examination Score ◽

The Mean ◽

University Examination

Abstract Background It is recognised that newly qualified doctors feel unprepared in many areas of their daily practice and that there is a gap between what students learn during medical school and their clinical responsibilities early in their postgraduate career. This study aimed to assess if undergraduate students and junior paediatric doctors met a Minimum Accepted Competency (MAC) of knowledge. Methods The knowledge of undergraduates and junior paediatric doctors was quantitatively assessed by their performance on a 30-item examination (the MAC examination). The items within this examination were designed by non-academic consultants to test ‘must-know’ knowledge for starting work in paediatrics. The performance of the students was compared with their official university examination results and with the performance of the junior doctors. Results For the undergraduate student cohort (n = 366) the mean examination score achieved was 45.9%. For the junior doctor cohort (n = 58) the mean examination score achieved was significantly higher, 64.2% (p < 0.01). 68% of undergraduate students attained the pass mark for the MAC examination whilst a significantly higher proportion, 97%, passed their official university examination (p < 0.01). A Spearman’s rank co-efficient showed a moderate but statistically significant positive correlation between students results in their official university examinations and their score in the MAC examination. Conclusion This work demonstrates a disparity between both student and junior doctor levels of knowledge with consultant expectations from an examination based on what front-line paediatricians determined as “must-know” standards. This study demonstrates the importance of involvement of end-users and future supervisors in undergraduate teaching.

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Searching for the erosion of empathy in medical undergraduate students: a longitudinal study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041810 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. e041810

Author(s):

José Manuel Blanco ◽

Fernando Caballero ◽

Santiago Álvarez ◽

Mercedes Plans ◽

Diana Monge

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Cognitive Empathy ◽

Primary Outcome Measure ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

School Settings ◽

School Year ◽

School Of Medicine ◽

Medical Undergraduate ◽

Sociocultural Differences

ObjectiveTo analyse the trajectory of empathy throughout the degree programme of medicine in a Spanish school of medicine.DesignLongitudinal, prospective 5-year study, between October 2014 and June 2019.SettingStudents from a Spanish university of medicine.ParticipantsTwo voluntary cohorts of undergraduate medical students from two different school years were invited to participate (n=135 (cohort 1, C1) and 106 (cohort 2, C2) per school year). Finally, a total number of 174 students (102 (C1, 71.6% women) and 72 (C2, 70.8% women) students, respectively) were monitored for 5 years. Each cohort was divided in two subcohorts of paired and unpaired students that were analysed to check possible social desirability bias.Primary outcome measureThe Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE).ResultsThe cohort of 102 students (C1) monitored between their first and fifth years of study (71.6% women) showed an improvement among paired women of 2.15 points in total JSE score (p=0.01) and 2.39 points in cognitive empathy (p=0.01); in the unpaired female cohort the increase was of 2.32 points (cognitive empathy) (p=0.02). The cohort of 72 students (C2) monitored between their second and sixth years of study (70.8% women) displayed a cognitive empathy increase of 2.32 points (p=0.04) in the paired group of women. There were no significant differences between paired and unpaired results for either cohort. Empathy scores among men did not decrease.ConclusionsThe empathy of medical students at our school did not decline along grade years. In fact, it improved slightly, particularly cognitive empathy, among women. This paper contributes to enlarge data from Europe, where longitudinal studies are scarce. It supports the idea that there may be global geo-sociocultural differences; however, more studies comparing different school settings are needed.

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Effect of epidemiology batch posting in improving attitude towards research among medical students

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20200984 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 1158

Author(s):

Aparnavi P. ◽

Venkatesh U. ◽

Priyanka S. ◽

Shalini S.

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Medical Curriculum ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Rank Test ◽

New Delhi ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Indian Medical ◽

Wilcoxon Sign Rank

Background: Epidemiology batch posting (EBP) is conducted only in a few Indian medical colleges for undergraduate students to orient them with research methodologies. EBP is designed to overcome the lacuna in knowledge on attitude towards scientific research amongst medical students. The objective of the study was to study the effect of EBP in improving attitude towards research among medical students.Methods: A pre-post study was conducted on a batch of 40 students (consecutive sampling technique) posted for EBP in Department of Community Medicine, at VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi during October-November 2017. This was well above the required sample size of 16 calculated using G Power 3.1. Data was collected using R-ATR (revised attitude towards research) Data was found to be non-parametric by applying tests of normality. Hence Wilcoxon sign rank test was used to find the statistical significance in change of attitude between pre and post-tests.Results: Participants mean age was 20.50±1.58 yrs and 75% of them were males. The median attitude towards research usefulness increased from 5.25 to 6.75 following EBP. In the domain of positive predisposition towards research, there was an overall positive change in attitude from a median of 4.00 to 5.25. A negative change was shown in ‘research anxiety’ domain, from a median score of 5.00 to 3.00.Conclusions: Authors recommend that Indian medical curriculum should mandate a small group learning model such as EBP for all undergraduate medical students to bring about a positive attitude towards research and to reduce their anxiety levels.

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An investigation into UK medical students’ knowledge of lifestyle factors on cancer

Scottish Medical Journal ◽

10.1177/0036933017706896 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 62 (3) ◽

pp. 110-114 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

S Luckman ◽

C Xiao ◽

E McLennan ◽

AS Anderson ◽

N Mutrie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Medical Students ◽

Online Survey ◽

Cancer Survival ◽

Lifestyle Factors ◽

University Teaching ◽

Undergraduate Teaching ◽

Lifestyle Factor ◽

Cancer Information ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students

Background and aim Lifestyle factor modification (alcohol, smoking, obesity, diet, physical activity) has the potential to reduce cancer incidence and cancer survival. This study assessed the knowledge of lifestyle factors and cancer in undergraduate medical students. Methods and results A total of 218 students (7 UK universities) completed an online survey of nine questions in three areas: knowledge (lifestyle factors and cancer); information sources; clinical practice (witnessed clinical counselling). Diet, alcohol, smoking and physical activity were recognised as lifestyle factors by 98% of responders, while only 69% reported weight. The links of lung cancer/smoking and alcohol/liver cancer were recognised by >90%, while only 10% reported weight or physical activity being linked to any cancer. University teaching on lifestyle factors and cancer was reported by 78%: 34% rating it good/very good. GPs were witnessed giving lifestyle advice by 85% of responders. Conclusions Most respondents were aware of a relationship between lifestyle factors and cancer, mainly as a result of undergraduate teaching. Further work may widen the breadth of knowledge, and potentially improve primary and secondary cancer prevention.

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Is English as a Medium of Instruction Problem for Undergraduate Medical Students?

Journal of Armed Forces Medical College Bangladesh ◽

10.3329/jafmc.v6i2.7272 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 32-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

S Hossain ◽

KM Shamim ◽

N Shahana ◽

MA Habib ◽

A Rahman

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Difficulty Level ◽

Medium Of Instruction ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Medical College ◽

Grade Ii ◽

Written Assessment ◽

Grade Iii

Introduction: The students of a country like Bangladesh, where language of medical education is completely English, suffer from a lot of problems in grasping English and also Latin and Greek terms used in English.Objective: This study was aimed to estimate the extents and to identify the nature of the problems faced by the undergraduate students in different aspects of English used in Anatomy.Methods: The study was conducted on 191 third year medical students, who had just passed the Anatomy portion of their undergraduate course from two renowned government medical colleges and one private medical college of Bangladesh. A written assessment test of students' performance was designed using two sets of questions as the instrument of the test. Each student was graded, according to the percentage frequency of correct responses, as having Grade IV difficulty (up to 20%), Grade III difficulty (20.01% to 40%), Grade II difficulty (40.01% to 60%), Grade I difficulty (60.01% to 80%) and Grade 0 with 'no difficulty' (above 80.01%). Comments were also collected from the students regarding their problems with English used in Anatomy.Results: An average of only about 48.2% responses on 'English used in Anatomy' was correct, ranging from about 20 to 70%. An arbitrary grading of difficulty level showed that 75% of the students were suffering from Grade II to Grade III difficulties. Performance of the students showed that the undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh were facing varying but noticeable amounts of difficulty with most of the areas of 'English used in Anatomy'.Conclusion: Organized, regular ways of dealing with these problems should be devised taking into consideration the specific aspects showing weakness and based on principles of terminology and English rather than on individual terms or words. Key words: English used in Anatomy; difficulty; undergraduate medical student DOI: 10.3329/jafmc.v6i2.7272JAFMC Bangladesh. Vol 6, No 2 (December) 2010 pp.32-36

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Perception of OSCE as An Assessment Tool in Undergraduate Students of Private Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan

10.53350/pjmhs211582370 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (8) ◽

pp. 2370-2374

Author(s):

Saba Pario ◽

Shaista Bashir Anwar ◽

Zafar Haleem Baloch ◽

Saira Ghafoor ◽

Shazia Aftab ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Clinical Skills ◽

Tool Material ◽

P Value ◽

Practical Skills ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Significant Difference

OBJECTIVE: To explore the perception of undergraduate students of United Medical and dental college towards objective structured clinical examination as an assessment tool. MATERIAL & METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study included undergraduate medical students, RESULTS: 153 students who completely filled the proforma were included in study among them 31% were male and 69% were females. Mostly agreed that stations in OSCE were simple and easily interpretable and assessed practical skills thoroughly. Majority of students accepted that skills inquired were taught in clinics, stations were according to course and stations were appropriately timed. 66 % confirmed that adequate instructions were provided before exam. 84.31% believed that OSCE is preferable to viva. 57.51% of candidates stated that examiners during OSCE were attentive and gracious but 20.91 % objected it , while 21.57% remained neutral. Almost half of examinees labelled it as comprehensive clinical assessment .Overall, 67.97 % perceived OSCE as demanding and tough assessment. Finally views of students for statement that OSCE is unbiased, reliable and valid were positive in 50.32%.There was a significant difference in the opinion of male and female( p-value is less than 0.05) in statement that OSCE thoroughly assessed practical skills, stations were according to course of instruction, Adequate instructions were provided before exam, superior and preferable to viva, assists in improvement of clinical skills, demanding and tough and finally OSCE was unbiased, reliable and valid CONCLUSION: OSCE was perceived as fair, comprehensive, un-biased format of examination but believed it was more stressful than traditional examination methods . KEY WORDS: Assessment, Attitude, OSCE, Perception, Undergraduate Medical students.

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Gender difference in performance of undergraduate medical students for subjective and objective evaluation in physiology

International Journal of Scientific Reports ◽

10.18203/issn.2454-2156.intjscirep20170353 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Meenakshi Sinha ◽

Jayshri Ghate ◽

Dipali K. Chatur ◽

Ramanjan Sinha

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Gender Difference ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Medical Curriculum ◽

Objective Evaluation ◽

Female Students ◽

High Achievers ◽

Multiple Choice Questions ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Significant Difference

Background: Several studies have indicated gender differences in performance of undergraduate students in medical curriculum mainly in the clinical specialties which requires different set of skills as compared to pre and paraclinical subjects. Therefore, the study aim to investigate gender difference if any, on overall performance as well as on different modalities of assessment like multiple choice questions (MCQ) and structured long & short answer questions (LSQ) of medical students in physiology.Methods: Performance of 238 first year MBBS students in overall theory (MCQ+LSQ) and separately in MCQ and LSQ were compared between male (n=139) & female (n=99). Further, they were sub-grouped on the basis of total marks in theory as low (<50%), medium (50-65%) and high achievers (>65%). Results: Female students scored significantly more compared to male students in total (60.8±7.42% vs 56.81±8.78%) as well as individually in MCQ & LSQ. Also, overall failure rate was more for male (19%) as compared to female (7%). However, comparison of high achiever group revealed no significant difference in performance of both genders in all modalities of assessments. Whereas, female students of both medium and low achiever groups had significantly high scores in LSQ as compared to male, but no such difference was observed for MCQ.Conclusions: Average and below average female students performed better relative to their male counterparts in subjective assessment (LSQ) as compared to assessment demanding more analytical/critical thinking (MCQ). However, performance of high achievers did not show any such gender difference. Therefore, different types of assessments bring out different abilities of students across genders depending on their grade of performance in a medical curriculum.

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Impact of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) Training on Case Identification and management Skills Among Undergraduate Medical Students in a Developing Country: A Case-Control Study

Journal of Medical Education ◽

10.5812/jme.110046 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol In Press (In Press) ◽

Author(s):

Purushottam Lal ◽

Amit Upadhyay ◽

Sunil Kumar Garg ◽

Aash Kumar Pandey

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Medical Students ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Case Control Study ◽

Integrated Management ◽

Childhood Illness ◽

Trained Group ◽

Management Skills ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Control Study

Background: In most developing countries, undergraduate medical students rely upon books published by foreign publications of developed countries. These books often fail to include the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended guidelines, which are vital for the national health mission of developing countries. As a result, medical students who are “future doctors” continue to lack the necessary skills when they graduate from medical schools and start working in their countries. Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of the inclusion of the WHO-recommended integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) guideline in the curriculum of undergraduate students. Methods: This case-control study was done on a group of 72 undergraduate medical students in the case (trained) group who underwent 12 days of IMCI training and 92 undergraduate students in control (untrained) group who did not receive IMCI training. An evaluation test, which included clinical case scenarios, was conducted to assess the performance of participants from both trained and untrained groups. Results: Participants of the trained group scored significantly higher compared with the participants of the untrained group in the identification and management of major childhood illnesses (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found between trained and untrained groups in the assessment of the immunization status of children. In the trained group, a strong positive correlation (r = 0.87) existed between the attendance percentage of participants during the training session and marks scored in the evaluation (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Our study suggests that the community-oriented WHO recommended IMCI training significantly improves disease identification and case management skills of undergraduate medical students. In developing countries, there is an urgent need for updating medical pedagogy and curriculum, which include WHO guidelines in order to meet current health challenges.

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Effectiveness of interactive dual-mode online platform for teaching and assessment of students during COVID 19 pandemic: Narrative experience and reflections of undergraduate medical students

10.25259/aujmsr_18_2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 34-40

Author(s):

Rajiv Mahajan ◽

Kapil Gupta ◽

Sandeep Kaur ◽

Tanvir Kaur Sidhu ◽

Upinder Kaur ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Online Teaching ◽

Clinical Training ◽

Online Classes ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Dual Mode ◽

Online Platform ◽

Medical Undergraduate

Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the perception of the undergraduate students about the online platform developed, through a long-term, qualitative study. COVID-19 enforced initial lockdown and later closing of educational institutes, including medical colleges in India. The circumstances lead to adoption of online means of teaching for teaching the medical undergraduate students. An interactive dual-mode online platform was introduced for teaching and assessment of undergraduate students in our institute also. Materials and Methods: Narrative experiences and reflections of students while attending online classes through the designed and delivered “interactive dual-mode online platform” were collected through open ended, anonymous Google forms. Results: Students were satisfied with the online learning as a stop-gap arrangement. Although they were facing technical snags and internet issues, they were happy that their syllabus was being covered and they were receiving formative assessment, in whatever quantity and mode possible. However, they were concerned about the lack of clinical training. Conclusion: To tide over crisis period, online teaching can be used, but one should shift to onsite teaching as soon as possible, particularly for medical students.

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