Knowledge, Attitudes, and Social Responsiveness Toward Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Among Chinese Medical Students—Thoughts on Medical Education

Abstract

Purpose: To assess knowledge, attitudes, and social responsiveness toward COVID-19 among Chinese medical students.Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 889 medical students in three well-known Chinese medical universities. The questionnaire was comprised of three domains which consisted of demographic characteristic collection, seven items for knowledge, and eight items for attitudes and social responsiveness toward COVID-19. Data from different universities were lumped together and were divided into different groups to compare the differences, including (1) students at the clinical learning stage (Group A) or those at the basic-medicine stage (Group B) and (2) students who have graduated and worked (Group C) or those newly enrolled (Group D).Results: Medical students at group B had a weaker knowledge toward COVID-19 than did students at group A, especially in the question of clinical manifestations (p < 0.001). The percentage of totally correct answers of COVID-19 knowledge in group C was higher than that in Group D (p < 0.001). There were significant differences between groups C and D in the attitudes and social responsiveness toward COVID-19. Surprisingly, we found that the idea of newly enrolled medical students could be easily affected by interventions.Conclusions: In light of this information, medical education should pay attention not only to the cultivation of professional knowledge and clinical skills but also to the positive interventions to better the comprehensive qualities including communicative abilities and empathy.

Prosocial modelling matters: the association between parent and faculty involvement in fighting COVID-19 with medical students’ career commitment

“…Some studies have shown that before entering medical college, the mental health levels of medical students are the same or higher than those of their peers [ 50 , 51 ], but after starting medical school their mental health can deteriorate [ 52–54 ]. Relevant research has suggested that newly enrolled medical students have excessive expectations for professional happiness, and could be easily affected by interventions [ 55 ]. Senior students are particularly likely to suffer from burnout [ 53 , 56 , 57 ], which is related to the level of stress they experience.…”

Knowledge, Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep Quality Among Medical Staff in Central South Areas of China During the Break of COVID-19: Does the Level of Hospitals Make a Difference?

“…In China, medical resources are unevenly distributed, such as resources of equipment and talents, and are mainly concentrated in developed cities and high-level hospitals ( 37 ). We considered the medical curiosity as the main cause of the significant difference in the knowledge toward COVID-19 between the participants from tertiary and basic-level hospitals, which has been reported in recent studies ( 38 , 39 ). Interestingly, studies of educational psychology revealed that the trait of curiosity is positively associated with academic achievement and the educational process may affect the state of curiosity of medical students ( 40 ).…”

“…Furthermore, medical education in China has emphasized the importance of treatment more than prevention for a long time. Specifically, the proportion of public health courses is relatively small in the current system of clinical medical education, and there are few opportunities for clinical medical students to participate in public health practice (22,42). As a result, many medical workers were infected unexpectedly in the early stage of the epidemic, due to the insufficient public health literacy, especially in the basic-level hospitals (43).…”

“…Points were only scored when the correct options were completely selected and no score would be awarded for a wrong or missed selection. This section was evaluated by scores and the percentage of the correct answers chosen by the participants ( 22 ).…”

Current status and capacity of pathogen laboratories in centers for disease control and prevention in China during the COVID-19 pandemic: A nationwide cross-sectional survey

“…The findings indicated that both academic education and short-term training help increase the experimental competencies of p-lab staff, who also subjectively believe that personnel and staff training are crucial determinants to improving p-lab capacity. Given the above, the relevant authorities should develop implementable training programs and provide more learning opportunities for CDC p-lab staff, such as full-time education at university level or refresher training at a higher-level CDC ( 18 ). Staff shortages represent a grievous issue at the CDCs, which could be reasonably interpreted as a severe deficiency of staff funding with convincing evidence pointing to the directions of reforms for the introduction, motivation, and retention of laboratory personnel and technical talent.…”