Perception and practice of energy drinks consumption by medical students of Wah medical college

Objectives: To determine the frequency of use of energy drinks, to assess gender, residence and year of education difference with the usage of energy drinks and the perception of students about benefits of energy drinks consumption

Study Design: Cross sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: Wah Medical College [WMC], from Jan to Jun 2016

Material and Methods: The 369 students of WMC from all years of MBBS course were selected through convenient sampling technique. After obtaining verbal consent the data were collected using a self administered closed ended questionnaire and analyzed by using SPSS version 19

Results: The frequency of consumption of energy drinks among students of WMC was 34 percent. Red bull was the most common [48 percent] brand used by them. Significant differences were found between usage of energy drinks with gender [<0.001], but insignificant difference with residence [0.06] and year of education [0.37]. Out of 369 students, 310 [81.6 percent] students thought that energy drinks help them to stay awake longer and 73-75 percent were of the opinion that its use improved their concentration and mental performance

Conclusion: It was concluded that the consumption of energy drinks was high among medical students and most of them were male students. The most well-liked energy drink was Red bull and they believed that energy drinks helped them to stay awake longer, reduced tiredness and improve mental performance

Orientation programme for first year medical students. a qualitative study

Objective: To estimate the perceptions of the students regarding its usefulness in academic and future prospects and to get a clear picture of having promoted learning and ascertaining the standards

Study Design: A mixed methods research design was adopted

Place and Duration of Study: Wah Medical College Wah Cantt, from Nov 2016 to Oct 2017

Material and Methods: Sixty-five students of the first year MBBS were given questionnaire, quantitative data on the feedback of orientation week was analyzed through the SPSS version 21. Likert based statistics were analyzed as mean +/- SD. The significance of gender related responses was found out by using Chi square test at a p-value of 0.05. The qualitative data was analyzed to identify emerging themes

Results: Out of 65 students 26 [40 percent] were males and 39 [60 percent] were females. About half of the students [44.6 percent] strongly agreed that the objective were clearly communicated. About 46.2 percent of the students felt that the environment was safe and conducive for learning. Qualitative analysis generated nine themes in which the most important were the future impact of the orientation week, interactive teaching, the concepts of medical ethics and professionalism

Conclusion: The students found that the topics discussed during the orientation week were of great relevance and time allocated was adequate. However, it unfolded a couple of topics that needed more elaboration which could be incorporated in the upcoming years