Dept of physiology Shalamar Medical and Dental college Lahore Assessment of Awareness, Perceptions , Skills and motivation of Undergraduate Medical Students’ Research in Physiology-A pilot study Dr. Farida Munawar Dept of physiology Shalamar Medical and Dental college Lahore F Munawar 2014

Introduction Physiology is vital component of medical curriculum as it forms the foundation of clinical subjects. It has to be taught and learned effectively for application of knowledge in clinical practice. There is no single method of teaching that can ensure thorough understanding. It is important to explore the current advances and practices in medical education ( Saeed and Munawar , 2009) F Munawar 2014

Introduction Encouraging research and fostering the development of analytical skills among medical students is now a high priority (Detsky MED, Detsky AS 2007) It is absolutely essential, to increase the students interest in that subject, to enhance their critical thinking and sensitize them to health related issues ( Naqvi 2010) . F Munawar 2014

Objectives Our assessment aimed to : Evaluate students’ awareness of research activities Compare students’ perceptions of their soft and research-specific skills competencies Determine students’ motivation for research F Munawar 2014

Materials And Methods Setting: Department of Physiology Sample size : 20 Student’s ( 10 + 10 ) Voluntary participation from first and second year MBBS ( session 2013 – 2014 . May ) Study design : Concurrent mix method study F Munawar 2014

Data Collection Research skills questionnaire adapted from measures originally developed to assess research skills with Zoology and Ecology students by the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Applied Undergraduate Research Skills (CETL-AURS) at Reading University (Louise N. Burgoyne et al., 2010 ) . This questionnaire is chosen because there are no standardised tools to assess medical student engagement in research and we found the CETL-AURS measures , appropriate for the stated objectives. F Munawar 2014

Data analysis and results For measuring internal consistency of items in study questionnaire Chronbachs’ Alpha in range of .67 to .88 was determined using SPSS version 17 Descriptive statistics was used to measure items in questionnaire Themes were generated for perceptions about research For all purposes a p-value of <0.05 was considered as criteria of significance F Munawar 2014

Awareness of research activities at SMDC ( frequency + percentage ) F Munawar 2014

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Not significant: P> 0.05 Not significant: P> 0.05 Comparison of oral and written communication between male and female students Not significant: P> 0.05 Not significant: P> 0.05 F Munawar 2014

Responses of students on doing research using Power Lab F Munawar 2014

Gender comparison by CHI square for item 3& 6 in motivation questionnaire Ability to recognize meaningful problems and questions for research in physiology Ability to organize resourses for projects F Munawar 2014

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Perceptions about research F Munawar 2014

Discussion 25 % male students showed very good awareness of information about books, images and research designs produced by their college staff Male and female students both had an excellent awareness about involvement of faculty members from department of physiology in research projects Most of the students were motivated to plan research projects . Male students appeared to be the most confident regarding their research skills competencies There was a slight male dominance for perceptions about research F Munawar 2014

Conclusion This study showed students’ motivation in planning guided research projects using Power Lab and Lab tutor software will enhance self directed learning for building better concepts in physiology . Students will enjoy group learning and work in an encouraging environment for formalized curiosity. F Munawar 2014

References Saeed , M., Munawar, F. (2009 . ) Problem Based Learning Sessions during Lectures on Endocrine Physiology. JFJMC, ; 3 : 60-62. Detsky, M.E.D, Detsky, A.S.( 2007 ) . Encouraging medical students to do research and write papers. CMAJ; 176 ( 12 ) : 1719-21  Naqvi, H., A. ( 2010 ) . Students’ research: tradition ahead of its time. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak.;20(10):701–2. F Munawar 2014

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