Medical Students' Attitudes towards Comprehensive and Basic Sciences Exam Questions in Birjand University of Medical Sciences

Background and purpose: Basic medical sciences, not only in its traditional form as basic sciences, but also in its modern forms like Biotechnology and Genetics has indicated a highly applicable potential in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illnesses. Therefore it is essential to improve basic sciences education quality, and because clinical students are in direct contact with medical issues, their judgment towards the clinical application of these lessons is crucial. This study was to analyze the clinical students’ attitude towards the basic sciences and their general questions in Birjand University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2006. All the medical students at the levels of Trainee I and II, and interns in Birjand University of Medical Sciences took part in this study. Data collection tool was a self-administered questionnaire. In this study, the questions from three periods of comprehensive exam from September 1380-1382(2001-2003) were used, then 60 questions were chosen via the random sampling and given to all clinical students and for each scientific question, one attitude assessment question was given so that the responder could represent his attitude on the Likert scale. The basic sciences courses and the necessity of specific courses in the basic level were analyzed in the further questionnaires. Then the SPSS software and the Chi-Square exam were used in order to analyze the data, and a P value of <0.05 was considered significant.Results: The number of participants in this study was 95 students, from which 27 (28.4%) were men and 68 (71.6%) were women. According to most students (75.8%) there was no significant relationship between the questions of comprehensive exam of basic sciences and the studied courses in the basic sciences' period, and the questions were not so applicable. There was no significant difference between the male and female ideas and students at various levels on the matter (p>0.05). From the viewpoint of the questions being applicable, the physiology (74.8%) and microbiology (74.8%) had the highest percentage of responses, and Biochemistry (69.5%) had the lowest. The necessity of specific courses was analyzed; anatomy (88.4%) and ESP (77.9%) were on top, and the Histology lab (14.7%) and Biochemistry lab (9.5%) were placed last. Among all the students, 61.1% had an opposing attitude towards the relation of basic sciences’ courses with the clinical application (clinical application in practice). 49.5% of the students did not even remember the basic sciences’ material. 60% evaluated the basic sciences' period to be weak, and 73.7% believed that the courses' duration to be inappropriate. Interns had a more positive feedback towards the application of the basic sciences exams than the trainees, and 61.1% had an opposing attitude towards the relation of basic sciences and their clinical application, and 71.6% of them were agree to the simultaneous study on the basic and clinical courses. There was no significant difference between the male and female students, or the students from various levels on the matter (p>0.05).Conclusions: The innovation of new teaching methods in basic sciences, along with its applicable examples could partially change the students' attitude. The questions of the exam should be as applicable as possible, and therefore reduce the gap between clinical and basic sciences.