Research amongst Junior and Senior Medical Students; Comparison of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice

Abstract

Background: Evidence based scientific knowledge and research is an integral part of medicine. This led us to this study to find out the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding research in medical students of final year and first year at Army Medical College NUST, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to compare the level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding research amongst medical students of final year MBBS and 1st year MBBS. Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study. Place of Study: Army Medical College-NUST Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Duration of Study: Three months (October 2013 to December 2013). Materials and Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 23 closed questions, was filled by students of first and final year MBBS, through non-probability convenience sampling. The data was analyzed by SPSS 21. p value of < 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: Over 50% of first year students and 21.53% of the final year students had poor knowledge of research methodology. 89.30% students from final year along with 51.30% students from first year were motivated and had interest in research activities. Not a single student from first year and only 12.37% of students from final year were actively involved in research process at the time of undertaking the research. 50.40% first year students and 58.46% from final year strongly disagreed that there are ample opportunities for research in the college. Conclusions: A working scientific forum should be established in the college with introduction of student mentor link. Students should be guided on how to carry out a research and how to make a good research question, how to develop skills for paper writing and evaluating the data collected.