The determination of the relevance of basic sciences learning objectives to clinical practice using a questionnaire survey.

OBJECTIVES: Facilitating sufficient understanding of the basic sciences to underpin clinical practice is important in producing the good doctor. However, the inclusion of irrelevant material in the curriculum not only wastes valuable learning time, but may also hinder learning. The aim of this study was to determine how relevant staff and students thought respiratory basic science learning objectives were to medical practice. DESIGN: The study involved a survey using an anonymous questionnaire to determine whether the respiratory learning objectives stated in Year 1 were perceived as relevant to clinical practice. Each learning objective was rated as being 'relevant', 'not relevant' or of 'uncertain relevance'. SETTING: Dundee Medical School, UK. SUBJECTS: Junior and senior students and staff. RESULTS: Year 1 students considered the majority of the learning objectives to be relevant to clinical practice. Staff and senior students identified some respiratory learning objectives as not relevant to clinical practice, most of which were related to biochemistry. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of learning objectives with questionable relevance to clinical practice requires careful consideration to determine whether these should be removed from the course. Attention needs to be given to both the presentation and process by which material is delivered to students. Strategies to emphasise the clinical relevance of the basic sciences to students are discussed. Further research needs to be conducted to evaluate what knowledge is essential for producing good doctors.

Differences in medical students' attitudes to academic misconduct and reported behaviour across the years--a questionnaire study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine attitudinal and self reported behavioural variations between medical students in different years to scenarios involving academic misconduct. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study where students were given an anonymous questionnaire that asked about their attitudes to 14 scenarios describing a fictitious student engaging in acts of academic misconduct and asked them to report their own potential behaviour. SETTING: Dundee Medical School. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduate medical students from all five years of the course. METHOD: Questionnaire survey. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Differences in medical students' attitudes to the 14 scenarios and their reported potential behaviour with regards to the scenarios in each of the years. RESULTS: For most of the scenarios there was no significant difference in the response between the years. Significant differences in the responses were found for some of the scenarios across the years, where a larger proportion of year one students regarded the scenario as wrong and would not engage in the behaviour, compared to other years. These scenarios included forging signatures, resubmitting work already completed for another part of the course, and falsifying patient information. CONCLUSION: Observed differences between the years for some scenarios may reflect a change in students' attitudes and behaviour as they progress though the course. The results may be influenced by the educational experience of the students, both in terms of the learning environment and assessment methods used. These differences may draw attention to the potential but unintentional pressures placed on medical students to engage in academic misconduct. The importance of developing strategies to engender appropriate attitudes and behaviours at the undergraduate level must be recognised.