Knowledge and attitudes of students at a Caribbean offshore medical school towards sexually transmitted infections and use of condoms.

BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted infections remain one of the predominant health issues that affect young adults. The aim of this study is to assess the level of knowledge, the attitudes and misconceptions of medical students at a Caribbean University towards STIs and condom use. METHOD: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among medical students by employing semi-structured questionnaires. RESULTS: Out of 150 questionnaires, 130 were completed, showing a response rate of 87%. The ages of the respondents ranged from 19 to 45 years with a mean age of 26 (SD 5.2) years. The findings indicated that the knowledge of students concerning STIs is high (95.4%). Twenty-four (18.5%) of the respondents had experienced vaginal/penile discharge following sexual intercourse over the last 6 months. The correlation of beliefs in condom usage and risky behaviour gives an odds ratio of 0.19 indicating a lower use of condoms among the students. A negative attitude towards condom usage was seen in 3.8% of the respondents. The main reason for condom usage was to prevent unwanted pregnancy and not to prevent contracting sexually transmitted infections. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of students about STIs in this study was found to be high, however risky behaviour such as having sexual intercourse with commercial sex-workers and regular unprotected sexual activities were identified although the prevalence of such behaviour was found to be low. We therefore recommend that behaviour modification programmes with regard to sex education and condom usage be implemented for the medical students as they are to be the future educators of the public on these matters.

The contributing role of tourism in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean.

The first confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean was reported in 1982, however a recent report by UNAIDS shows that the epidemic has risen to over 250,000 persons living with the virus with the highest prevalence rates shown to be in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Various factors ranging from commercial sex trading to unsafe injection employed for drug abuse have been identified to play a contributing role in this increase. Also, the role and impact of tourism on the spread of HIV infection has been reported. Due to concerns shown by countries and territories who are dependent on tourism and that they rank amongst the most highly affected by HIV/AIDS in the region, this paper endeavours to examine the impact of HIV/AIDS and the contributing role of tourism to HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean.

Future choice of specialty among students in a Caribbean medical school.

BACKGROUND: The medical specialities chosen by medical students for their careers play an important part in the development of health care services. Our objective is to examine medical students' perception of clinical specialty while in the preclinical school. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was done among all the preclinical students using a structured questionnaire. The questions explored the demographic data, generic factors considered as important in their choice of specialty as well as factors that influence the students' attractiveness to various medical specialities. The study was conducted among medical students of Spartan Health Sciences University, St. Lucia. RESULTS: Out of 90 questionnaires, 76 were correctly filled, producing response rate of 84.4%. The ages of respondents were between ages 19 to 43, with mean age of 25.3. There were forty five (59.2%) male and thirty (39.5%) female resulting into ratio 1.5:1. Internal medicine was the most attractive specialty with attractive factor with mean of 1.2 and SD of 0.46. The aspects of medicine that interest the students most is diagnosis and treatment of diseases; 50 (65.8%), followed by interpersonal interaction with patients; 44 (57.9%) while the least attractive aspect is research; 11 (23.7%). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that few students are interested in basic biomedical research; hence the need to address this apathy in the medical curriculum.

Future choice of specialty among students in a Caribbean medical school.

BACKGROUND: The medical specialities chosen by medical students for their careers play an important part in the development of health care services. The study was designed to examine the perception of medical students to clinical specialty while in the preclinical school. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was done among all the preclinical students using a structured questionnaire. The questions explored the demographic data, generic factors considered as important in their specialty choice as well as factors that influence the students' attractiveness to various medical specialities. The study was conducted among medical students of Spartan Health Sciences University St. Lucia. RESULTS: Out of 90 questionnaires, 76 were correctly filled, producing response rate of 93.4%. The ages of respondents were between 19 to 43, with mean age of 25.3. 59.2% male and 39.5% female. Internal medicine was the most attractive specialty with attractive factor with mean of 1.2 and SD of 0.46. The aspects of medicine that interest the students most is diagnosis and treatment of diseases; 50 (65.8%), followed by interpersonal interaction with patients; 44 (57.9%) while the least attractive aspect is research; 11 (23.7%). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that few students are interested in basic biomedical research; hence need to address this apathy in the medical curriculum.