RESUMO
To find out the frequency and contents of online social networking [Facebook] among medical students of Dow University of Health Sciences. The sample of the study comprised of final year students of two medical colleges of Dow University of Health Sciences - Karachi. Systematic search for the face book profiles of the students was carried out with a new Facebook account. In the initial phase of search, it was determined whether each student had a Facebook account and the status of account as ''private'' ''intermediate'' or ''public'' was also sought. In the second phase of the study, objective information including gender, education, personal views, likes, tag pictures etc. were recorded for the publicly available accounts. An in depth qualitative content analysis of the public profiles of ten medical students, selected randomly with the help of random number generator technique was conducted. Social networking with Facebook is common among medical students with 66.9% having an account out of a total 535 students. One fifth of profiles 18.9% were publicly open, 36.6% profiles were private and 56.9% were identified to have an intermediate privacy setting, having customized settings for the profile information. In-depth analysis of some public profiles showed that potentially unprofessional material mostly related to violence and politics was posted by medical students. The usage of social network [Facebook] is very common among students of the university. Some unprofessional posts were also found on students' profiles mostly related to violence and politics
RESUMO
To determine the level of professionalism among undergraduate medical students at two public sector medical colleges of Karachi, Pakistan. This cross sectional study was conducted from August to November 2013 in two medical Universities of Karachi [Dow University of Health Sciences [DUHS] and Jinnah Sindh Medical University [JSMU]]. The validated Professionalism Instrument used in survey forms measured 6 tenets of professionalism [i.e. altruism, accountability, excellence, duty, honor and integrity, respect for others] and exhibited satisfactory reliability measures. The survey forms were pretested and a pilot data collection was performed to check the response and make sure the ease of participants. The study sample comprised of first through final year students of each medical school. The students were asked to fill a structured survey form after verbal information and consent. Only those students were included who were enrolled in the respective medical school and present on the day of survey. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16 and Independent sample T-test was applied to compare mean scores of each tenet between the groups. Among 494 respondents [302 from DUHS, 192 from JSMU] the mean score of all six tenets of professionalism turned out to 11.43. There was a slight variation found in each tenet score in first and final year students, most marked being in 'honor and integrity' [Pre-clinical=11.91, Clinical=11.38]. Al-truism [11.44], honor and integrity [11.91] were higher in pre-clinical group whereas students from third to final year were more devoted [11.21], accountable [11.48], and excellent [11.73]. The current level of professionalism among medical students is sub-optimal. To achieve an optimum state, professionalism should be included formally in undergraduate medical curriculum