Perceptions of Nigerian Medical Specialists on Research

"The current research aimed at collating the views of medical specialists on disease priorities; class and outcomes of health research in Nigeria; and draw appropriate policy implications. Structured questionnaires were distributed to consent 90 randomly selected medical specialists practising in six Nigerian tertiary health institutions. Participants' background information; relative disease priority; research types and class; type and class of publication media; frequency of publications; challenges faced in publishing research; impact of their research on health practice or policy; and inventions made were probed. Fifty-one out of the 90 questionnaires distributed were returned giving a response rate of 63.3. Sixty-four point six percent indicated that the highest priority should be given to non communicable diseases while still recognizing that considerations should be giving to the others. They were largely ""always"" involved in simple low budget retrospective studies or cross-sectional and medical education studies (67.8) and over a third (37.5) had never been involved in clinical trials. They largely preferred to ""always"" publish in PubMed indexed journals that are foreign-based (65.0). They also indicated that their research works very rarely resulted in inventions (4) and change (4) in clinical practice or health policy. Our study respondents indicated that they were largely involved in simple low budget research works that rarely had significant impacts and outcomes. We recommend that adequate resources and research infrastructures particularly funding be made available to medical specialists in Nigeria. Both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Nigeria should emphasize research training in their curricula."

Job satisfaction amongst Nigerian ophthalmologists: an exploratory study

Aim: This study aimed to assess job satisfaction amongst Nigerian Ophthalmologists. Methods: The study was conducted during the annual congress of the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria in September 2008. One hundred and ten ophthalmologists were selected by simple random sampling and asked to complete a structured questionnaire. Results: The response rate was 73. The resulting sample comprised of 48 consultants (60); four diplomates (5); and 28 residents (35). Most respondents 62 (78.5) were satisfied with their job as ophthalmologists and 17 (21.5) were not satisfied. Only 12 (15.4) were satisfied with their remuneration and 42 (53.2) were satisfied with their skill. Most respondents (75.6) expressed readiness to pursue a career in ophthalmology if they were to make a choice again. Conclusion: Most respondents were satisfied with their job but only minorities were satisfied with their remuneration. Therefore; there is a need to address the issue of enhancement of remuneration for ophthalmologists in Nigeria