International Medical Students Research Articles

GRIT IN MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION STUDENTS

Background: Grit is one of the noncognitive predictors that must be owned by medical professional education students in taking professional education. Grit consists of consistency of interest and perseverance of efforts to deal with various conditions that will be encountered in pursuing the educational process. The purpose of this study was to determine how the level of grit in medical internship students in Indonesia. Methods: This research method used online survey research methods. The procedure for filling out the questionnaire is distributed online and the respondent voluntarily completes the questionnaire with the criteria of the respondent namely active professional medical education students who have completed the profession for at least one year. The survey was responded by 708 medical professional education students from 21 universities that organize medical professional education in Indonesia. Results: The results of grit categorization for medical professional education students were based on five categories: 2 respondents had very low grit levels and 52 respondents with low grit categories. Meanwhile, 238 respondents had moderate grit levels, 314 respondents were in the high category, and 102 respondents were in the very high category. In addition, there is no difference between the average grit scores of medical professional education students who have passed the study period of one, two, or three years. Conclusion: There are variations in grit levels obtained from the results of this study. Grit is a strong predictor for work performance and also academic performance. Individuals with a high degree of grit will be more diligent at work, do not easily give up if they fail, and can even make failure as motivation to strive and be more active in achieving goals. Apart from assessing the cognitive abilities of medical students, it is hoped that the assessment of non-cognitive factors in the form of grit measurement at the beginning of selection and during the medical education process can be carried out both at the pre-clinical stage and at the clinical stage. This aims to determine the level of business persistence and consistency of student interest in the medical field.

Abstracts of the International Medical Students' Congress Sarajevo (SaMED) 2021

Abstracts of the International Medical Students' Congress Sarajevo (SaMED) 2021

Risk Perception of International Medical Students About Coronavirus (COVID-19) in China and Their Willingness to Fly Back.

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the willingness of international medical students enrolled in Chinese universities to return to their home countries based on their risk perception of the recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).Materials and MethodsA well-structured questionnaire was incorporated into the WeChat survey, a special feature within this mobile application, similar to Google Docs. The questionnaire was sent to 1190 international medical students across China between January 1, 2020 and May 15, 2020. A total of 897 completed questionnaires were returned, indicating a 75% response rate.ResultsThe survey findings show that the risk perception of international medical students about COVID-19 was low because of the strong preventive measures taken by the Chinese government against COVID-19. Moreover, they were willing to stay in China until the completion of their degrees. In contrast, students who have completed their degrees were willing to return home immediately if possible.ConclusionThese findings are of serious concern for developing countries where they come from because their return to their home countries may cause an epidemic outbreak in those regions.

Tobacco Smoking and Smokeless Tobacco Use among Domestic and International Medical Students in Hungary

Background: Medical students as future physicians will have an important role in tobacco control; therefore, their tobacco use behavior is of particular interest. Consumption of combustible tobacco (cigarettes, waterpipes, cigars, and pipes) is prevalent throughout Europe, whereas smokeless tobacco use is common mainly in the Nordic countries. Objectives: Aim of our study is to assess tobacco use among medical students from different countries studying in Hungary with special focus on students from Norway where smokeless tobacco is widely used. A self-administered questionnaire survey was carried out to measure current tobacco use. Results: The survey included 1337 students from Hungary, Norway, Germany, and from other countries (Multinational group). The lowest prevalence of cigarette smoking was found among students from Norway (13.0%) when compared with students from Hungary (21.5%), Germany (34.2%), or with students in the Multinational group (29.5%). Conversely, prevalence of smokeless tobacco use was the highest among students from Norway (40.9%) when compared with students from Hungary (1.4%), Germany (2.6%), or with students in the Multinational group (6.2%). Waterpipes, cigars, and pipes were rarely used, mostly only 1–3 times a month in all groups. More than half of Norwegian students used some form of tobacco (smokeless and/or combustible tobacco). Conclusions: Considering the impending role of medical students in tobacco control, faculties of medicine should sensitize their students on the topic of possible health risks associated with combustible and smokeless tobacco products. Culturally tailored tobacco cessation programs need to be offered to medical students coming from different cultural backgrounds.

Medical Internship Students' Attitude Toward Compatibility Of Medical Teaching With The Saudi Vision 2030 In Saudi Arabia

Background and Aims: As a roadmap for economic development and national growth, “Vision 2030” was adopted by Saudi Arabia (SA). With three main pillars, a lively culture, a flourishing economy, and an ambitious nation, SA will achieve its “Purpose 2030 vision.” There is also a need to ensure the vision is consistent with both medical and health education. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess Medical internship students’ attitude toward compatibility of medical teaching with the Saudi vision 2030 in SA. Methods: A cross sectional, descriptive research design was used. A sample of 1200 male and female medical internship students in SA was studied using convenience sampling. The data was collected using a questionnaire which consist of two parts. The first part deals with the demographic data of the respondents, while the second one includes the three health goals of vision 2030 and other general goals. Results: The majority of the studied intern students provided average score in relation to facilitating access to health services (88.7%), improving the quality and efficiency of health services (76.1%) and the general goal while only (58.8%) provided high score related to prevention of health risks. That means that the curricula of College of Medicine on all Saudi Arabia still need to modification to be compatible with vision 2030. Conclusions: We found that the curricula of Colleges of Medicine across Saudi Arabia still need modification to be compatible with vision 2030. The Colleges of Medicine are requested to increase the participant of the students in the mobile clinics and activate their role toward their community, update the palliative care as the separate curriculum. Moreover, the Colleges of Medicine must increase the interest with curriculum of medical administration.

The Impact of Using International Medical Students in Role-Plays on Improving Hungarian Medical Students’ English Language Competence

The Impact of Using International Medical Students in Role-Plays on Improving Hungarian Medical Students’ English Language Competence

Designing and Implementing a Virtual Anatomic Pathology Elective During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed conventional undergraduate medical education, converting previously in-person clerkships into virtual experiences. In order to allow students to gain exposure to the field of pathology, make connections with pathologists, and provide opportunities for letters of recommendation, the authors quickly developed a Virtual Anatomic Pathology Elective at the University of Minnesota. We succeeded in developing the foundation of a Virtual Anatomic Pathology Elective that allows for the rotation to be accessible not only to our medical students but also to international medical graduates and medical students from different programs. In 1 month, we were able to create a 4-week elective that was available before the start of the 2021 residency application season. We provided students with the closest possible experience to an in-person Anatomic Pathology Elective by developing an introductory week of lectures and assignments that provided structure for the rotation, introduced the field of anatomic pathology, and demonstrated the role of pathologists in health care. Furthermore, students attended virtual resident lectures and grand rounds, participated in virtual sign-out sessions, and presented an interesting case to the faculty at the end of their rotation. The goal was ultimately to customize the curriculum to students’ interests by making the rotation applicable to those applying to pathology as well as to other specialties (eg, general surgery, internal medicine, dermatology). Overall, we were able to design and implement a novel Virtual Anatomic Pathology Elective which we know can be effectively reproduced by other medical schools.

Real decisions of international medical students on choosing elective courses on general, internal, and evidence-based medicine at Kyiv Medical University

Real decisions of international medical students on choosing elective courses on general, internal, and evidence-based medicine at Kyiv Medical University

Characterizing International Medical Students’ Communication in Medical Interviews

Characterizing International Medical Students’ Communication in Medical Interviews

Study of smoking pattern in intern doctors and perception

Introduction: Substance abuse is very common among medical intern students and smoking is found to be the single greatest preventable cause of premature death and disability. It may affect their leaning abilities and can also deteriorate the quality of health care offered to the patients. This study was conducted in order to assess the knowledge and attitude of interns towards smoking and to study their perception towards internship. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at SHKM Govt. Medical College, Nuh, Haryana, India. Interns were provided with a pretested, anonymous, semi open-ended questionnaire. All passed out final year MBBS students were included in the study. Response rate of the study was 78.2% as 61 out of 78 passed out students returned duly filled questionnaire after one month of internship period. Results: Smoking emerged as a major factor of substance abuse among medical interns. Most of them started smoking under pressure of peer group and 44.26% were having one of their family members as a regular smoker. Most of the intern doctors wanted to prepare for PG entrance examinations (39.34%) and choice of PG branch was clinical (86.88%). Most of the interns wanted to serve in urban settings after doing PG (78.69%). Conclusion: Smoking was found to be very common among intern doctors precipitated by stress or due to pressure of the peer group. The perception of the intern doctors was to prepare for PG entrance examinations during internship. Keywords: Perception, Smoking, Intern Doctors, Internship.

Atenção primária e especialidades médicas como opção entre estudantes do internato de medicina

Objetivo: Avaliar a intenção dos alunos do internato, quanto a atuação na atenção primária e opção por especialidades médicas. Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo transversal, descritivo, com acadêmicos do curso de Medicina do internato da região do Sudeste do Pará, por meio de um questionário online semiestruturado composto por dados sociodemográficos, perfil profissional, intenção de cursar residência médica, especialidade que pretende exercer e suas perspectivas em seguir carreira na região. Resultados: Participaram todos os 33 alunos com mátriculas efetivas em um internato no Sudeste Paraense, com leve predominância do gênero masculino (51,5%), com média de idade de 26,16 anos. A especialidade de cirurgia geral foi a preferida dos estudantes, sem predominância de gêneros, seguida de clínica médica e pediatria. Nenhum estudante optou por medicina da família e comunidade. Observou-se um interesse de 48% dos alunos em atuar na atenção primária e 70% com pretensão em seguir carreira na região. Conclusão: O estudo aponta que o contato longitudinal durante a graduação com a Atenção Primaria em Saúde influenciou os alunos a intencionarem escolher outras especialidades médicas, principalmente cirurgia geral, clínica médica e pediatria, e todos os estudantes afirmaram o desejo em especializar-se através de residências médicas.

International Students’ Experience of Medical Training in an English-Speaking European Country

European medical schools are recruiting increasing numbers of international students. This study explores the impact of cultural backgrounds and language on the transition of international medical students to the clinical years of their training when they are predominantly based in hospitals and interacting with health professional staff and patients. A mixed-methods study was undertaken, incorporating 31 peer interviews and a focus group discussion and the development and conducting of an online survey ( n = 144; 50% response rate). We compared levels of social adjustment and integration between the students on a regional basis. Overall students adjusted well, but there were statistically significant regional differences in social adjustment and integration. The impact of communication difficulties from a language and cultural practice perspective was a dominant challenge highlighted, as was the differences in hospital culture and interprofessional communication norms. International medical students experience many challenges and benefits from studying in a multicultural environment. More nuanced demographic data need to be collected on admission to assist in potentially identifying those who may experience difficulties with academic and daily life transitions. In addition, all students in a multicultural environment would benefit from a program of acculturation for personal and career development.

COVID-19 Impact on Medical Education: Evidence of International Students

The study explores higher medical education transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic in the world and Ukraine. It also highlights the current trends – coronavirus quarantine and digitalization of medical education. The article also aims to study international medical students’ needs and perspectives on the eve of quarantine and their attitude to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. The research is based on surveys of first-year international medical students, chosen at random. It allowed students to provide feedback on their country of origin, satisfaction, ways of financing the study, and future career plans, as well as their attitude to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The qualitative data analysis lets advocate that coronavirus has determined a deep transformation in higher medical education and affected international medical student population. First, coronavirus has changed the role of medical students and internship. Second, it has fastened transition from traditional to digitally-based education and brought distance learning and exams worldwide. On the eve of the quarantine, Ukraine is becoming a host country for international students primarily from Asia and Africa. Among the reasons for international students’ choice of Ukraine as a place for study are their country preference, high-quality education, friends’ advice and geographical location. The international medical students consider Ukraine not only as a high-quality medical education provider but as the perspective country for postgraduate employment. Besides, the majority of first-year international medical students find remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic supporting, effective but tiring. The research creates a paradigm for future studies of the international medical students’ phenomenon.

Nutrition education in medical school: the case of international medical students in China

ObjectiveTo assess the knowledge on country-specific nutrition situation, perceptions of the nutrition curricula and factors influencing capacity to offer nutrition guidance among medical students studying internationally in China compared with...

Construction of Modular-Based Curriculum Framework for Medical English Teaching in China

Current research on the medical English curriculum system is in an unsystematic state. According to the modular teaching theory and ESP classification, especially Hutchinson & Waters’s (1986) and Jordan’s (1997) categories, three modules of medical English curriculum system are put forward for non-English speaking countries to cultivate their international medical students and strengthen their international cooperation. These modules are Medical Humanities English, Medical Occupational English and Medical Academic English. Each of the above modules is independent but related to the others in a sequential relationship. Offering modular medical courses not only provides a language platform for medical students to catch up with the pace of internationalization, but also accelerates the process to study the advanced medical technology through international communications.

Perceptions of education quality and influence of language barrier: graduation survey of international medical students at four universities in China

BackgroundAs the number of Asian and African students studying medicine in China increases, it is imperative to evaluate the educational experiences of these international medical students (IMSs). This study was intended to investigate opinions of China-educated IMSs towards the medical curriculum and the impact of Chinese language capability on their clinical studies.MethodsA self-administered questionnaire was circulated to the final-year IMSs during the graduation time from May 2019 to July 2019 in 4 universities in China. The questionnaire asked IMSs to assess the quality of medical education and provide a self-evaluation of their Chinese language capability. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether IMSs’ Chinese language capability was associated with their clinical experiences and clinical competence.ResultsOverall, we received 209 valid responses, of which 76.1% were satisfied with the quality of medical education. Genetics, physics, and mathematics were perceived as the least relevant basic courses for medical practice, and 21.5% of student reported that community-oriented medicine was a neglected subject. Notably, 58.9% of students had positive views about discussions on ethical topics during their clerkships, and 71.3% believed they had acquired sufficient clinical skills to begin a residency program. Chinese speaking skills and communication initiatives were found to be critical factors in influencing students’ clinical experiences and competence.ConclusionThis study presents the perceptions of China-educated IMSs towards medical curriculum from various aspects. Results show that language influences the education experiences of IMSs. Collectively, these results indicate that the curriculum for IMSs in China should be more problem-based and community-engaged to improve IMSs’ learning experiences and preparation for community deployment. Furthermore, training curriculum for the oral Chinese should be improved to equip IMSs with sufficient language competence to enable them to efficiently carry out clinical clerkship and rotations. Our findings provide evidence for benchmarking medical curricular codifications tailored for Asian and African students.

Letter to the Editor: Distant surgical teaching during COVID‐19 ‐ A pilot study on final year medical students

Letter to the Editor: Distant surgical teaching during <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 ‐ A pilot study on final year medical students

OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION (OSCE) AS A RELIABLE EVALUATION STRATEGY: EVIDENCE FROM A BRAZILIAN MEDICAL SCHOOL

The new curriculum of medical schools has brought the need to develop a professional committed to ethics, capable of understanding the role of social factors, the insertion of the individual into the family and their role in promoting health. These skills and the use of new methodologies in teaching-learning process have demonstrated that the traditional performance assessment methods are limited in holistically evaluating the student. This study analyzed the correlation among different methods for evaluating competencies in medical internship students and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study was performed among 5th year medical students at Pediatric, Surgery, Medical Clinic, Family and Community Medicine and Gynecology and Obstetrics. Grades of each student obtained through different evaluations (theoretical test, conceptual evaluation and test skills) at the end of each rotation were correlated with the individual results from OSCE. In regard to correlations with the OSCE score values, it was found a weak to moderate positive and statistically significant relationship with the global cognitive score (r= .22, p&lt; .001), global abilities score (r= .26, p&lt; .001) and with the global behavioral score (r= .38, p&lt; .001). The students' performance in the various assessments of performance evaluated here was positively correlated to their performance on OSCE. Furthermore, the organization of an OSCE-type assessment prepared in multiple, committed and competent hands may serve as a unique assessment and, in fact, assess the development of clinical skills for future doctors. Keywords: educational measurements, higher education, medical education, objective structured clinical examination

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Global Medical Student Partnership program in undergraduate medical education.

BackgroundThe Global Medical Student Partnership (GMSP) is a medical student-led international initiative to promote accessible global health learning. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the GMSP program in meeting its learning objectives.MethodsCanadian and international medical student pairs met online monthly (January-May 2018) to discuss global health-related medical cases. Students then reviewed cases with local GMSP peers and faculty experts. A mixed-methods study was performed to evaluate whether the objectives of the program had been achieved. 26 of 32 (81.3%) students completed a questionnaire, and 13 (40.6%) also participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze students’ perspectives on skill development through GMSP.ResultsGMSP students agreed or strongly agreed that international collaboration and communication skills were more important to them following program participation (92.3%, 92.3% respectively). Many expressed that after GMSP, they knew more about their healthcare system, practices abroad and how to solve complex health issues (92.3%, 84.6%, 61.5% respectively). Qualitative data showed GMSP improved students’ communication and presentation skills, provided a foundation for international relationships, fostered appraisal of diverse health systems, and furthered students’ understanding of health advocacy.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that GMSP met its original objectives by providing students with opportunities to engage in international collaborations and to further develop their skills in advocacy, communication, and health-systems research. This program may be an important addition to medical education as it makes use of technology and peer-to-peer exchange to enable global health learning.

Preferred learning style between Iranian and international medical students: A comparative study

Context: Learning styles as student preferences for acquiring and nurturing knowledge are different by considering their individual and social factors. Socio-cultural factors and the educational structure of different countries are some of the factors affecting this field. Aims: The present study aimed to compare the learning style of Iranian and international medical students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Settings and Design: The present descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the medical students studying in the basic sciences course of Tehran University of Medical Sciences during 2018-2019. Methods and Material: Complete enumeration was used for sampling and data were collected by using VARK standard questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS 21. Results: Among 225 students participating in the present study 46.4 and 53.5% of the participants were Iranian and international students, respectively. Based on comparing the mean score of four learning styles among Iranian and international medical students, two kinesthetic (p <0.05) and aural (p <0.05) styles were significantly different. The results of the present study represented the preference of bi-model learning style among Iranian and international students (87%) compared to that of tri- and quad-model ones. Conclusions: Based on the results of the present study, the learning style of both groups was bi-model although a difference was observed between Iranian and international students regarding uni-model style. Thus, different active education methods should be used to improve the academic performance of students in order to utilize all the senses for learning