PERCEPTIONS AND VIEWS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS ABOUT RESEARCH AND RELATED ISSUES.

Abstract

Background: There are decreasing numbers of physician-scientists at the global level. A review of the literaturereveals a lack of interest in research when examining the perceptions of and attitudes towards research amongmedical students. The present study aims to explore these perceptions and attitudes to identify factors that couldencourage students to choose research careers.Aims: To understand (1) the perceptions and attitudes among undergraduate (UG) medical students regardingresearch and (2) the factors contributing to a willingness to take up research as a career.Methods: This is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study, conducted in the College of Medicine of KingKhalid University among 590 undergraduate students. A questionnaire examining student perceptions and attitudes regarding medical research was used. SPSS software version 16 was used to analyse the results. Variousstatistical tests – Chi-square test, t-test, odds ratio – were used to analyse the data with a significance level of0.05.Results: The questionnaire had a response rate of 93% (550 of 590 students returned the questionnaire).Around half of the students felt that research in the field of medicine is important, while only a minority felt thatresearch would be their future career. The greatest barriers to involvement in research in medical school appearto be time, the availability of research mentors and training in research methodology. Furthermore, students consider research as an activity with low status and financial benefits.Conclusion: Although medical students feel that research should be part of medical education, they are neitherinspired nor enthusiastic about choosing research as a career. Aside from there being insufficient time in the programme allocated to science education, the lack of sufficient staff members able to act as role models for students could play an important role.