Dataset Information

Future career plans of Malawian medical students: a cross-sectional survey.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Malawi has one of the lowest physician densities in the world, at 1.1 doctors per 100,000 population. Undergraduate training of doctors at the national medical school has increased considerably in recent years with donor support. However, qualified doctors continue to leave the public sector in order to work or train abroad. We explored the postgraduate plans of current medical students, and the extent to which this is influenced by their background.

Methods

A self-administered questionnaire was developed after discussion with students and senior staff. This included questions on background characteristics, education before medical school, and future career plans. This was distributed to all medical and premedical students on campus over 1?week and collected by an independent researcher. One reminder visit was made to each class. Chi-squared tests were performed to investigate the relationship of student characteristics with future career plans.

Results

One hundred and forty-nine students completed the questionnaire out of a student body of 312, a response rate of 48%. When questioned on their plans for after graduation, 49.0% of students plan to stay in Malawi. However, 38.9% plan to leave Malawi immediately. Medical students who completed a 'premedical' foundation year at the medical school were significantly more likely to have immediate plans to stay in Malawi compared to those who completed A-levels, an advanced school-leaving qualification (P?=?0.037). Current premedical students were slightly more likely to have immediate plans to work or train in Malawi compared to medical students (P?=?0.049). However, a trend test across all the years was not significant. When asked about future plans, nearly half of students intend to work or train outside Malawi.

Conclusions

The majority of respondents plan to leave Malawi in the future. The effectiveness of the substantial upscaling of medical education in Malawi may be diminished unless more medical students plan to work in Malawi after graduation.

SUBMITTER: Mandeville KL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3465242 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Future career plans of Malawian medical students: a cross-sectional survey.

Mandeville Kate L KL Bartley Tim T Mipando Mwapatsa M

Human resources for health 20120913

<h4>Background</h4>Malawi has one of the lowest physician densities in the world, at 1.1 doctors per 100,000 population. Undergraduate training of doctors at the national medical school has increased considerably in recent years with donor support. However, qualified doctors continue to leave the public sector in order to work or train abroad. We explored the postgraduate plans of current medical students, and the extent to which this is influenced by their background.<h4>Methods</h4>A self-admi ...[more]

PMID: 22971119

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Project description:Objective: Despite the increase in the number of graduates in Human Medicine, it has been predicted that there will not only be a shortage of doctors, but also a shortage of specialists in Germany for the years to come. At the same time there are only a few studies on the factors that influence medical students in their decision to select a specialty. Against this background, a study was conducted at the Medical Faculty in Rostock, to investigate the criteria for deciding on a later field of specialty. Methods: Conducting focus groups of four to seven participants of each year of study, criteria were determined which seemed relevant to the students during their selection of their specialty field. The interviews were transcribed and the answers of the participants classified in super categories. With the data obtained a questionnaire was prepared and sent electronically to all students of Human Medicine. Via exploratory factor analysis important criteria and their correlations were determined. Results: A total of 421 students took part in the questionnaire (31.4% return) and indicated their own clinical experience, but also patient contact and work-life-balance as important criteria for a future selection of specialty field. 44.8% of the participants had already made their choice of specialty at the time of the query, and this for the most part took place in the clinical study phase and most often for the subjects Internal Medicine (15.3%), General Medicine (14.2%), Pediatrics (12.0%) and Surgery (11.5%). For those students who already had made a decision, the size and complexity of the field as well as the opportunity to be able to build relationships with patients, were decisive for selection. Those still undecided indicated that for their choice of specialty family friendliness of the field, leisure time and esteem from others were important. Conclusions: Our results show that the personal clinical experience can be a decisive influential factor for future specialty selection. Early contact with the different disciplines could therefore be structured as an aid to help in the decision making, in order to break down any apprehensions and to stop a pending deficiency in specialists.

Project description:Calls have been made to reassess the curricula of medical schools throughout the world to adopt competence-based programs that address the healthcare needs of society. Zimbabwe is a country characterized by a high neonatal mortality rate of 24 per 1000 live births. The current research sought to determine the content and appropriate teaching strategies needed to guide the development of an undergraduate neonatal curriculum map for medical students at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences.We surveyed faculty (n =?8) and non-faculty pediatricians (n =?5), senior resident medical officers (N =?26) using a self-administered questionnaire, and completed one focus group discussion with midwives (n =?11). We asked respondents their expectations regarding knowledge, psychomotor skills, competencies, and teaching strategies in a basic newborn curriculum for medical students. Relevant policy and curricula documents were reviewed to assess newborn health needs and the current training. A group of faculty educationists (n =?11) collated and finalized the findings from the document review, survey, and focus group using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.The document review revealed three key neonatal health objectives according to the current national maternal and neonatal health road map. These objectives are to be met using a four tier approach comprising (i) family planning (ii) focused antenatal care (iii) clean and safe delivery and (iv) basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric & neonatal care. Existing curriculum has 15 newborn topics taught in lecture style during the pediatric rotations, and five newborn care skills to be learned through observation. The existing curriculum is silent on desired competencies. In the current study 19 cognitive areas, 17 psychomotor skills and six competency domains were identified for an ideal neonatal curriculum for undergraduate students. A combination of teaching strategies including classroom, simulation and a clinical rotation were recommended.This study revealed a significant gap between the existing neonatal curriculum and the ideal curriculum as recommended by broad stakeholders in the context of national health care needs. Next steps are to complete the development and implementation of the proposed curriculum map to better align with the ideal state.

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Dataset Information

Future career plans of Malawian medical students: a cross-sectional survey.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Future career plans of Malawian medical students: a cross-sectional survey.

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