Afghan medical students’ perceptions, and experiences of their medical education and their professional intentions: a cross-sectional study

BMC Medical Education

Research

Zabihullah Anwary¹  Abdul Wahed Wasiq²  Khalid Akbari³  Mohammad Hashim Wafa⁴  Hadia Sayam⁵  Muhammad Haroon Stanikzai⁶  Ahmad Haroon Baray⁶ 

[1]Clinic Department, Faculty of Medicine, Bost University, Helmand, Afghanistan

[2]Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kandahar University, Kandahar, Afghanistan

[3]Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Paktia University, Paktia, Afghanistan

[4]Neuropsychiatric and Behavioral Science Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kandahar University, Kandahar, Afghanistan

[5]Para-Clinic Department, Faculty of Medicine, Malalay Institute of Higher Education, Kandahar, Afghanistan

[6]Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kandahar University, Kandahar, Afghanistan

关键词: Afghanistan;    Medical students;    Medical education;    Conflict;    Career choices;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-023-04577-7

 received in 2022-09-15, accepted in 2023-08-08,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundNumerous challenges have crippled the Afghan healthcare system on individual, organizational, and societal levels. The Afghans have acknowledged that an evidence-based perspective is paramount to enhancing medical training capacities across the country, which may, in turn, best ensure appointing highly competent authorities to address health system problems on such multiple levels.ObjectivesThis study assessed current Afghan senior medical students’ perceptions, and experiences of their medical education and their future professional intentions.MethodsWe conducted this cross-sectional study at seven public and private Afghan medical institutes from March to April 2022. We invited 665 senior medical students through an anonymous survey using the Google survey online forms via social-media platforms, such as WhatsApp Messenger. Descriptive statistics were employed for the data analyses.ResultsThe mean age (± SD) of the students was 23.7 (± 2.2) years and males constituted 79.9% (510) of the study sample. About 22.6% of them rated their medical training as excellent, and nearly a third of them (37%) said that it is good. Nearly half (48.7%) of the students would prefer to stay in Afghanistan. The leading motives for moving overseas were to obtain more advanced and quality education (69.9%), and a decent personal life (43.9%). Nearly two-thirds (67.4%) of them asserted that current political and armed conflicts in Afghanistan may have influenced their professional choices.ConclusionThis study epitomizes that the quality of medical education in Afghanistan has room for growth and development to meet the standards set on regional and global grounds.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

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