Skill building programme in population-based research for medical undergraduates: learners' feedback.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES & METHODS: A training programme in population-based research was introduced for interns in 1993, in a Delhi medical school. Guided by the persistent feedback from learners, the timing of such training was advanced to MBBS para-clinical phase in 1999--integrated with 10 months first slot of community medicine posting. Present article analyzes learners' feedback on this newly designed training programme from 16 consecutive batches from 2002-2006. RESULTS: In 7 of the 9 units of learning, around 90% of the students rated their participatory involvement at > or = 3 points on a 5 point rating scale. This rating was best in data collection (97.8%); and identification of research question (97.6%)--and least in presentation of report (48.7%); and report writing (61.8%). For 77.6% of the students, this was their first hands-on experience in population-based research. Over 55% of the students expressed their willingness to maintain their interest in population-based research after finishing the community medicine posting. On the other hand, 22.6% distinctly expressed their unwillingness in this regard. Main reasons cited by unwilling/not sure students were 'low level of personal interest in population-based research' (39.7); 'such activity was not contributory in getting admission to postgraduate courses' (33.2%); and 'Not so useful in likely job responsibilities' (21.2%). Almost half (48.9%) of the students chose para-clinical phase as most suitable period of MBBS for such learning exposure. Pre-clinical; clinical; and internship phases were preferred by 19.7%, 13.9%, and 10.7% respectively. CONCLUSION: Present feedback provides us a broad direction in opting for the para-clinical phase where exposure to population-based research can be effectively placed on a systematic basis, without extra resources.