Role of Community Placement Programmes in Development of Professional Basic Skills Among First-Year Medical Students

Various methods have been implemented in the medical field to foster professional basic skills among students. Nevertheless, the contribution of a community placement programme (CPP) with regard to first year of medical students is still unclear. The study objective is to explore how CPP contributes to the development of professional basic skills among students within this group. This qualitative study was conducted between January 2017 and March 2018. Two batches of the first-year medical students with a total of 24 students were involved in the study. The data were gathered using reflective journals which were written from a one-day English camp that was held at the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Medical Sciences. A total of 24 reflective journals have been used as data sources which were then analysed using ATLAS.ti software version 8.0 based on the open, axial and selective coding process. The result has shown that professional skills were established through three themes and eight categories. The themes were personal skills (e.g., time management, self-management, self-confident, social adjustment, internal motivation and communication skill), leadership skills (e.g., teamwork) and scientific skills (e.g., proposal writing skills). CPP is an agenda to nurture the medical students’ professional basic skills. Therefore, such an agenda must continue to be included in medical education.

Undergraduate paramedic students’ perceptions of a community volunteer placement

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore first year university paramedic students’ perceptions of volunteerism during a community placement.MethodsIn this exploratory study we employed a cross-sectional methodology utilising a convenience sample of first year undergraduate students. Administering a paper-based survey, we measured students’ perceptions of their experience of a 50-hour placement as a volunteer within a community organisation.ResultsOf the 191 students available to participate in the study, 88 completed the survey yielding a 46.1% response rate. Survey results were positive overall and indicated that students view volunteering in a community placement as a good experience. The majority of students signalled that they had a positive impact during their placement and were inclined towards future volunteering including as paramedic volunteers.ConclusionOur results suggest that paramedic students positively perceive volunteering during a community placement and may be predisposed to future volunteer opportunities.