ABSTRACT
Objectives: To evaluate the King Saud University [KSU] medical students' perceptions of the educational programmes' quality
Materials and Methods: A total of 289 medical students at KSU, College of Medicine were selected randomly from year 1 through year 5 and were invited to participate in a descriptive cross-sectional study design. A questionnaire was distributed to the students and collected on completion. The questionnaire measured the students' perceptions of the educational programmes and their competence, as well as their overall satisfaction with the training delivered and the feedback system
Results: About 60.5% of the students declared that the educational programmes provided them with the necessary knowledge while only 48.5% of students believed that it provided them with the necessary skills required. Only 34% of students stated that the intended learning objectives were known to them at the beginning of the courses. About half of the students indicated that the programmes actively involved them in the problem-solving process. Half of the students believed that the amount of basic science knowledge provided was enough; however, 39.5% of students [in their clinical years] believed that the amount of knowledge delivered in the basic science courses was inadequate. Only 18.4% of students considered that the basic science courses prepared them for a clinical clerkship. 17.7% of the students declared that the research activities improved their research skills. 47.3% believed that the research activities helped them in understanding community characteristics, 57.6% asserted learning the basics of medical statistics, 44.6% believed it helped them in using the available resources in solving community problems and 49.5% believed it helped them in learning as well as acquiring project management skills. 34% of the students participated in planning educational activities while 53.7% participated in evaluating these educational activities. 36.1% of students gave frequent feedback to the college. Only 30.2% of the students were satisfied with the overall quality of the educational programmes
Conclusion: The students' perception of the educational programmes was illustrated and important aspects were highlighted which needed to be addressed and revised in order to improve the quality of the curriculum
ABSTRACT
Inappropriate induction of neutrophil apoptosis during infection could deplete neutrophil numbers and function, impairing host defense and favoring bacterial persistence. The aim of this work was to determine whether infection could promote neutrophil apoptosis by evaluating the rate of neutrophil apoptosis in sera of patients with pneumonia and healthy control patients. It also aimed at examining the role of FasL in infection induced neutrophil apoptosis. This study included 25 patients diagnosed as having pneumonia and 15 healthy controls. Neutrophil apoptosis was quantified by flow cytometry using propidium iodide and Becton Dickinson FACScalibur. The rate of apoptosis was greater for neutrophils isolated from patients with pneumonia than for healthy controls [P value, 0.000]. Patients with gram negative and severe infections exerted a higher rate of neutrophil apoptosis than patients with gram positive infection. The rate of neutrophil apoptosis was greater when subjected to sera from patients with either gram-negative or gram-positive infection than when subjected to sera from controls [P value, 0.001]. Moreover, anti-FasL antibody-neutralized infected sera attenuated the infected-serum-induced neutrophil apoptosis [P value, 0.000]. These results suggest that infection enhances neutrophil apoptosis possibly through FasL but its source needs to be determined in further studies