RESUMO
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate attitudes, perceptions and perceived barriers towards health research among Saudi Arabian undergraduate medical students
Methods: This cross-sectional study took place between August and October 2014 and included 520 students from five medical schools across Saudi Arabia. An anonymous online survey with 21 close-ended questions was designed to assess students' attitudes towards research, contribution to research-related activities, awareness of the importance of research, perception of available resources/opportunities for research, appreciation of medical students' research contributions and perceived barriers to research. Responses were scored on a 5-point Likert scale
Results: A total of 401 students participated in the study [response rate: 77.1%]. Of these, 278 [69.3%] were female. A positive attitude towards research was reported by 43.9% of the students. No statistically significant differences were observed between genders with regards to attitudes towards and available resources for research [P = 0.500 and 0.200, respectively]. Clinical students had a significantly more positive attitude towards research compared to preclinical students [P = 0.007]. Only 26.4% of the respondents believed that they had adequate resources/opportunities for research. According to the students, perceived barriers to undertaking research included time constraints [n = 200; 49.9%], lack of research mentors [n = 95; 23.7%], lack of formal research methodology training [n = 170; 42.4%] and difficulties in conducting literature searches [n = 145; 36.2%]
Conclusion: Less than half of the surveyed Saudi Arabian medical students had a positive attitude towards health research. Medical education policies should aim to counteract the barriers identified in this study
RESUMO
In this brief communication, we present the steps used to establish a web-based congenital glaucoma registry at our institution. The contents of a case report form [CRF] were developed by a group of glaucoma subspecialists. Information Technology [IT] specialists used Lime Survey softwareTM to create an electronic CRF. A MY Structured Query Language [MySQL] server was used as a database with a virtual machine operating system. Two ophthalmologists and 2 IT specialists worked for 7 hours, and a biostatistician and a data registrar worked for 24 hours each to establish the electronic CRF. Using the CRF which was transferred to the Lime survey tool, and the MYSQL server application, data could be directly stored in spreadsheet programs that included Microsoft Excel, SPSS, and R-Language and queried in real-time. In a pilot test, clinical data from 80 patients with congenital glaucoma were entered into the registry and successful descriptive analysis and data entry validation was performed. A web-based disease registry was established in a short period of time in a cost-efficient manner using available resources and a team-based approach.