Portuguese Medical Students’ Interest for Science and Research Declines after Freshman Year

The integration of scientific research into medical curricula remains insufficient despite its advantages for medical students’ professional development and the advancement of medicine. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of first-year medical course attendance on medical students’ attitudes and perceptions towards scientific research and clinical practice, while also assessing the contribution of sociodemographic and academic factors. Two hundred and thirteen medical students self-administrated a questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the first school year. Their responses were compared and two regression models were calculated to assess factors influencing students’ attitudes and perceptions. After freshman year, students displayed significantly lower positive attitudes towards science and research. Their motivation to perform research and to integrate it into the curriculum also decreased, while the importance attributed to research skills for clinical practice increased. Motivation to perform research and negative attitudes were positively and negatively associated with grade point average (GPA), respectively. Female students and those who attended public secondary schools attributed greater importance to communication skills. This study reinforces the need to early develop research skills and positive attitudes in medical students, motivating them to become physician-scientists. Additional follow-up studies may offer further contributions to the integration of research into medical curricula.

Are rare diseases overlooked by medical education? Awareness of rare diseases among physicians in Poland: an explanatory study

Background During their studies, future physicians are often taught that while evaluating a patient they should first consider a common diagnosis and not a rare one. Consequently, although most physicians will face the diagnosis or treatment of a rare disease (RD) at some point in their professional lives, many assume that they might never meet a patient with a specific RD. Moreover, many physicians lack knowledge about RDs and are not prepared for caring for RD patients. Thus, the aim of this paper was to assess the awareness of RDs among Polish physicians. Methods The study was conducted among 165 medical doctors taking their specialization courses at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland. The questionnaire assessed physicians’ knowledge about the number, examples, etiology and estimated frequency of RDs. It also checked the self-assessment of physicians competence in RDs, as well as their opinions about university curricula in this respect. Results The study shows that while most physicians lacked basic knowledge about the etiology, epidemiology and prevalence of RDs, many had also problems with separating RDs from more common disorders. Moreover, 94.6% of physicians perceived their knowledge on RDs as insufficient or very poor and less than 5% feel prepared for caring for patients with RDs. Simultaneously, while over 83% of physicians believed that RDs constitute a serious public health issue, 17% were of the opinion that mandatory courses on RDs are not necessary in medical curricula and 6.7% were not interested in broadening their knowledge of such diseases. Most respondents derived their knowledge on RDs from university courses, scientific literature and research, as well as from the Internet. Conclusion Since the study shows that there is a urgent need to fill the gap in physicians’ knowledge on RDs, it seems advisable that extra courses on these diseases should be added to medical curricula and physicians’ postgraduate training. Furthermore, as the Internet is the main source of information on RDs, e-learning programs and courses for all medical professionals should be organized.

Optimising undergraduate medico-legal and professionalism teaching through a student-selected component

PurposeWe sought to understand how best to teach medico-ethics, law and professionalism to undergraduate medical students using a student selected component.Materials and methodsStudents received small-group, seminar-based teaching from the module organiser and external representatives from organisations such as the General Medical Council and Medical Protection Society. Experiential learning was also facilitated through attendance at fitness to practice tribunals and Coroner’s court, followed by structured debrief sessions. Two cohorts of medical students(n=40) from Manchester University were surveyed before and after undergoing the placement, with qualitative interviews and thematic analysis for a subset of this group(n=16) and course leaders(n=4).ResultsThere were significant (p<0.05) improvements in students’ self-reported understanding of key medicolegal organisations and accessing guidance on professionalism. Thematic analysis uncovered increasing confidence in the role of the medicolegal system, barriers to challenging unprofessional behaviour, and a desire for this to be placed in the curricula.ConclusionsThis placement was well received and demonstrates an importance for this content to be taught effectively in the medical curricula. Having protected time to attend sessions while an undergraduate may reduce anxiety felt by doctors fearing medicolegal proceedings and help challenge unprofessional behaviours. Further work could explore mechanisms into how best to incorporate this into the medical curricula.

Achievements and challenges in psychiatric education and training in Sri Lanka

When compared with other Asian countries, psychiatric education and training in Sri Lanka has made significant developments during the past two decades, such as introducing psychiatry as a separate final year subject in the undergraduate medical curricula. However, further developments in psychiatric training in medical education are needed.

Climate change education in public health and medical curricula in Australian and New Zealand Universities: a mixed methods study of barriers and areas for further action

Background: The World Health Organization deemed climate change and air pollution as the top threat to global health in 2019. The importance of climate for health is recognised by healthcare professionals, who need to be equipped to deliver environmentally sustainable healthcare and promote planetary health. There is some evidence that climate change and health is not strongly embedded in accredited master-level public health training programs and medical programs globally, however, the immersion of climate-health in Australian and New Zealand programs is unclear. Objectives: To explore the extent to which climate-health education is currently embedded into public health and medical curricula in Australia and New Zealand. Methods: Educators identified by their coordination, convenorship, or delivery into programs of public health and medicine at universities in Australia and New Zealand were invited to participate in a cross-sectional, exploratory mixed methods study. Participants completed an online quantitative survey and qualitative interviews regarding their experience in program and course delivery, and the prominence of climate-health content within program and course delivery. Quantitative surveys were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative interview content was analysed via a modified ground theory approach. Results: The response rate of the quantitative survey was 43.7% (21/48). Ten survey respondents also completed qualitative interviews. Quantitative results showed that epidemiologists were the most common experts involved in design and delivery of this curriculum, with a reliance on guest lecturers to provide updated content. Qualitative interviews highlighted the ad-hoc role of Indigenous-led content in this field, the barriers of time and resources to develop a coherent curriculum and the important role of high-level champions to drive the inclusion of climate change and planetary health. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to strengthen current support available for pedagogical leadership in the area of climate and broader environmental change teaching at universities.