Perceived barriers towards the importance and application of medical research: a source of gender disparity among medical undergraduates.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about gender disparity among medical undergraduates in the developing world. Therefore, this study aims to explore the attitudes and perceived barriers among Jordanian medical students, particularly women. METHODS: An online, self-administered questionnaire, developed after an extensive literature review, was disseminated across all six Jordanian medical schools targeting more than 5000 medical students. Student t-test and ANOVA were used to document mean differences among different groups. Linear and logistic regression models were used to find predictors of publication and number of publications. RESULTS: A total of 636 students participated in the survey with a women to men ratio of 1.1. Women medical students report significantly higher knowledge (t(634) = 2.47, p = 0.013), personal (t(634) = 3.31, p = 0.001), and total barriers scores than men (t(634) = 3.02, p = 0.003). Moreover, compared to men, women were less likely to find same-sex mentorship (t(634) = 3.18, p = 0.001) or receive credited authorship (t(634) = 2.12, p = 0.011). Overall, women medical students were more likely to perceive that their gender (t(634) = 3.58, p < 0.001) and people's perception of their gender (t(634) = 4.25, p < 0.001) are barriers to their career advancement. Binary logistic regression demonstrated that gender is a significant predictor of being able to publish (OR: 1.645; 95%CI: 1.002-2.731), while linear regression demonstrated that gender is a predictor of number of publications (ß: 0.113; 95%CI: 0.063-0.288). CONCLUSION: A significant gender disparity exists in terms of both attitudes and overall barriers among Jordanian medical undergraduates which calls for immediate policy changes as to produce successful clinicians and researchers.

Improving the Quality of Medical Documentation in Orthopedic Surgical Notes Using the Surgical Tool for Auditing Records (STAR) Score.

Aims Due to the significant value held by medical records in terms of influencing patient care and medico-legal cases, this study aimed to investigate the quality of surgical notes and their improvement through periodic auditing during a six-year period at a major tertiary hospital. Methodology This study retrospectively evaluated surgical records of patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgeries at Jordan University Hospital from 2016 to 2021 using the Surgical Tool for Auditing Records (STAR) validated questionnaire. This questionnaire is composed of six distinct sections aimed to quantify the quality of medical records and demonstrate their associated deficiencies. Pre- and post-audit STAR scores were analyzed using the two independent sample t-test on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 (IBM Corp. Armonk, NY). Results A total of 454 records were randomly selected and evaluated using the STAR questionnaire. There was an overall significant trend of improvement in the quality of records in all evaluated years compared to the 2016 baseline. The most pronounced improvements were in the records of 2021 as compared to the 2016 baseline (97.4 ± 0.7 vs. 94.3 ± 1.6; p:<0.05), in which the Initial Clerking, Subsequent Entries, and Operative Record domains had the most significant magnitude of change. The Consent and Anesthesia domains plateaued over the study's period in terms of overall quality. The most improved STAR domain was the Discharge Summary domain, in which four subsections (follow-up, diagnosis, complications, and medications on discharge) had significant STAR score increases (all; p:<0.05). Conclusion Our study implies that simple measures, including personnel education and training and periodic auditing, are effective measures in increasing the quality of surgical records. High-quality medical records need to be sustained and continuously improved, as they contribute to better health care, promote research, and contribute to economic gains through cost-effective practices.