Knowledge and attitudes of undergraduate medical students with regard to medical research at a South African university

Abstract

Medical research as a component of undergraduate medical training is a very crucial aspect that has the potential of developing certain skills in students. These skills would serve as a means of improving the standard of healthcare that the students deliver after graduation by means of the generation of new scientific findings and introduction of good clinical practice. [1,2] Clinicians who are engaged in research in the field of medicine are often referred to as physician-scientists. [3] The literature suggests that there has been a steady decline in the number of physician-scientists worldwide, who are very difficult to replace. Some of the reasons for this decline have been attributed to the absence of good training programmes, unattractive careers in clinical research, and inadequate exposure to research at an early stage of the medical curriculum. [3-5] The need for more physicianscientists has resulted in the rapid expansion of medical research-related courses at several medical schools. This trend should expose undergraduate medical students to medical research-related courses at an early stage in their medical education, with emphasis on acquisition of skills, knowledge and attitudes rather than factual learning. All these would lead to students developing the habit and skills of active inquiry, which are inculcated for life. [4,6,7] Furthermore, various studies have shown that medical students who were enthusiastic about medical research during training developed an interest in research after graduation. These doctors most likely fill the void of physician-scientists in the future. [2,4.8] Courses in evidence-based medicine, which are crucial in clinical practice, have also been introduced into the medical curriculum, together with epidemiology, research methods and journal article critique at some South African (SA) universities. [9-11] These courses have been shown to improve students' competencies at undergraduate level. [9-11] According to the literature, there is sufficient evidence that medical curricula in SA medical schools have been through significant renewal in the past decade. [7,9-12] Some of the outcomes include the early exposure of students to medical research as part of the modernisation of the undergraduate medical curriculum. [7] There is a strong indication that the quality of doctors would be highly influenced by this renewed curriculum. [7,13] Despite all the recent innovation regarding medical curricula in SA, a review of the literature showed very little information on the knowledge and attitudes of medical students in sub-Saharan Africa towards medical research. Therefore, this study was designed to describe the knowledge and attitudes of a sample of undergraduate medical students at a SA university with regard to medical research. Methods Study design and setting This was a descriptive, cross-sectional observational study conducted among medical students at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU), Pretoria, SA, one of eight public-funded medical schools in SA that provi...