Great Teacher Creates Effective Learning Environment: A Study through IIUM Nursing Students’ Eyes

Learning environment in the universities plays an important role in producing highly competent graduates especially in nursing profession. Thus, the most important as-pects are the teaching activities and as well as student – teacher interaction in daily environment in the university. To investigate the International Islamic University Malay-sia (IIUM) nursing students experience towards their teachers and to identify the rela-tionship between teaching and students learning perception in their learning environ-ment. This study used quantitative method and utilized two out of five subscales in Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measurement (DREEM). The subscales used were students’ perception of learning (SPoL) , students’ perception of teacher (SPoT) and total items in these both subscales are 12 and 11 items, respectively. The ques-tionnaire results revealed that IIUM nursing students scored 28.54/48.00 in (SPoL) and 28.13/44.00 in (SPoT). Both findings showed the IIUM nursing students’ experience their teachers and the learning environment are moving in towards positive directions. The regression finding was 51% of the total variation in students’ perception of teacher score was explained by students’ perception of learning. Although the overall sub-scales (SPoL) score in the current study falls in the category of a more positive per-ception, 2 out of 12 items were poorly scored by the IIUM nursing students. The re-searcher strongly agrees that listening to the expression of students is an important consideration for an educational institution. The overall mean score for (SPoT) showed that the students perceived their teachers as moving in the right direction. In this pre-sent IIUM study, one item showed a mean score of less then 2.00. As a result, these two subscales most probably should reflect the same outcome such as in their aca-demic performance and experience greatly during their student life on campus. The arising issues from this DREEM study at IIUM embrace the need for the creation of supportive environment as well as designing and implementing interventions to remedy unsatisfactorily elements of the learning environment for more effective and successful teaching and learning to be realised.

The timing and stability of choice of medical specialty among Malaysian doctors.

A total of 356 doctors responded to a survey on the timing and stability of choice of medical specialty. The majority of doctors made their final decision while working as a medical officer. One hundred (48.5%) of the doctors had made an earlier choice as medical students, 63 (30.6%) during their internship and 43 (20.9%) made their final choice while they were medical officers. Working experience in the specialty was the most important factor in determining final choice of specialty. Advice from consultants/seniors, better financial prospects and parental influence were more important for the male doctors while marriage and family considerations were more important for the female doctors in making their final choice.

Specialty choices of male and female doctors in Malaysia.

A survey of specialisation choices was conducted for two batches of medical officers applying to the local medical schools for specialisation in Malaysia. A total of 359 doctors responded, giving a response rate of 71%, with 169 male (44.4%) and 187 female (55.6%) respondents. Surgery ranked highest among the male doctors followed by orthopaedic surgery and internal medicine. Family medicine ranked highest among female doctors followed by public health and anaesthesiology. Among the other specialties, the male doctors preferred otorhinolaryngology while female doctors preferred Pathology. Both male and female doctors chose to be a clinical consultant in a general hospital as the first choice. They prefer to work in or near their hometowns.

Career preferences of male and female medical students in Malaysia.

A survey of career choices were conducted for three batches of final year medical students at Universiti Sains Malaysia. A total of 241 students responded, giving a response rate of 76%, with 107 males (44.4%) and 134 females (55.6%). Surgery ranked highest among the male students while obstetrics and gynaecology ranked highest among female students. Internal medicine was the second choice for both males and females. Among the other specialties, the male students shows preferred Hospital Administration and Radiology while female students preferred Community Medicine, Psychiatry and Pathology. Both male and female students chose to be a clinical consultant in a general hospital as the first choice. They prefer to work in or near their hometowns.

Knowledge of childhood asthma among medical students.

As future health care providers medical students should acquire an adequate knowledge of bronchial asthma before graduation from medical school. The aim of this study was to assess whether knowledge about childhood asthma increased during the medical course. The 590 medical students enrolled in the School of Medical Sciences, University of Science Malaysia during the 1995/96 session were studied utilizing a validated questionnaire. There was a significant increase in the mean total scores from 11 (95% CI 10.5-11.6) in Year 1 to 23.4 (95% CI 22.9-24) in Year 5. Questions about symptoms of asthma, pathogenesis of airway narrowing during acute exacerbations, preventive and reliever medications, side effects of steroids, addiction to asthma drugs and assessment of severity revealed a progressive increase in knowledge over the five years. Among 5th year medical students 44.6% named infection and 65.1% named exercise as two common triggers of childhood asthma; only 30.1% could name two prophylactic drugs for asthma. Although the asthma knowledge of medical students increased progressively during the five year curriculum, their knowledge regarding trigger factors and preventive medications were deficient. As childhood asthma affects some 10% of Malaysian children its importance requires greater emphasis in the medical curriculum.

Risk profile of pregnant mothers in Kelantan.

A demographic and obstetric profile of pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinics in kelantan over period of one year was determined by a retrospective study of 10,032 registered pregnant mothers. The prevalence of risk factors related to the age of the mother, parity, weight, haemoglobin level, bad obstetric history and pregnancy related diseases were determined. Prevalence of teenage pregnancy and primigravida accounted for 4.3 and 17.2 percent respectively. Nearly 3.9 percent of the mothers weighed less than 40 kg and 44.5 percent of mothers were found to be anaemic (Hb less than 11g/d) at the first antenatal visit. Only 3.2 percent of the mothers did not have any designated risk factor. Previous bad obstetric history and pregnancy related disease accounted for 17.1 and 3.5 percent of mothers respectively.

The problem student on clinical rotations: a comparison of Malaysian and North American views.

The purpose of this study is to explore the types of problem students that clinical teachers encounter in clinical settings. A questionnaire developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges that lists a variety of types of problem students was completed by 466 clinicians at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) and 98 Malaysian clinicians from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). In addition, 120 medical students from UKM completed a slightly modified version of this questionnaire. Both the faculty and student questionnaires asked the respondent to identify the frequency of a given problem type. The faculty was also asked to estimate how difficult it was to evaluate a specific problem. In general, there was strong agreement among the North American and Malaysian faculty on the frequency and difficulty of the 24 types of problem students listed. There were some notable differences, such as Malaysian teachers perceiving the "shy" student more frequently than their North American counterparts who rated the student with deficits in knowledge more frequently. However, the overall similarity in the rankings suggest that clinical teachers face similar types of problems, independent of cultural differences and institutional differences.