Sudanese Medical Students and Scientific Research

Abstract

Background: Most of developing countries face problems in assessment of their public health practices. Gain of this knowledge is orchestrated by  research. Medical students can play an essential role in improving public database.
Objective: to explore knowledge, attitude and skills of medical students in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), Omdurman Islamic University (OIU) towards research.
Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional, institution-based study. A total of 442 students, equally from each batch participated in the study. Equal numbers of male andfemale were considered to eliminate gender and seniority bias. Structured pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. Data collected were fed to Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS) version 15. Means, standard deviation and correlations were done where appropriate. Statistical  significance was taken at P =0.05.
Results: The mean knowledge score was 37% and attitude was positive in 77.1% of the students. Only 18.3% had attended research methodology workshop. The rate of internet navigation is directly proportional to the social class. Only 14.7% knew the engines used for finding medical literature.
Conclusion: The low knowledge score is due to lack of application of research in the academic curriculum; however, the students have a fairly positive attitude. The knowledge is expected to improve with the intended policy to include practical research in the curriculum.

Key Words: Public health, academic curriculum, Sudan