Attitude towards working in rural area and self-assessment of competencies in last year medical students: A survey of five countries in Asia

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Pisake Lumbiganon¹  Wanicha L. Chuenkongkaew²  Pham Viet Cuong³  Kawkab Mahmud⁴  Weimin Wang⁵  Himanshu Negandhi⁶ 

[1] Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, 40002, Khon Kaen, Thailand;Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, 10700, Bangkok, Thailand;Hanoi School of Public Health, Hanoi, Vietnam;James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh;Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China;Public Health Foundation of India, Delhi NCR, Plot No. 47, Sector 44, Institutional Area, 122002, Gurgaon, India;

关键词: Medical student;    Attitude;    Competencies;    Rural areas;    Asian countries;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-016-0719-9

 received in 2015-12-20, accepted in 2016-07-28,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFive countries in Asia including Bangladesh, China, India, Thailand and Vietnam formed a network called Asia-Pacific Network for Health Professional Education Reforms (ANHER). This network collectively conducted a survey at the national level and at the institutional level (for medical, nursing and public health education). We also undertook an assessment of final year graduates from these schools on their attitudes, competencies and willingness to work in rural areas.MethodsPretested anonymous questionnaire comprised of four sections including demographic data, attitudes towards working in rural area, where to work after graduation and perception about competency of respondents was used. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used for data analyses.ResultsAbout 60 % of students from Bangladesh and Thailand had positive attitude towards working in rural area, 50 % in both China and India and only 33 % in Vietnam. Students’ positive attitudes towards their school in terms of preparing or inspiring them to work in rural areas were low across all five countries. Upon graduation and in the next five years, majority of students wanted to work in public sectors. Interestingly confidence about overall competency was quite low.DiscussionPositive attitude towards working in rural areas varied significantly across five countries in Asia. Medical schools should improve the preparation and inspiration towards working in rural areas for their students.ConclusionMedical schools should put more effort in improving students’ attitude towards working in rural areas.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016