Student's Opinion Towards the Assessment System of Revised Undergraduate Medical Curriculum - An Experience in A Private Medical College

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the attitude of the undergraduate medical students towards the assessment system of revised medical curriculum. Procedure: During the placement of the students in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the basic idea of the old and the new curriculum was explained to them. The objective of the study was explained and a pretested questionnaire was given to each student. Identification of the student was not compulsory to maintain secrecy. 5 point Likert scales was used to measure the responses of the participants. Statistical analysis was done using the SPSS system version 11.Results: Out of 82 students, 70 participated. Among them, 37.1% were male, and 48.6% were female students. 44.2 % said that the curriculum and 35.7 % said that the exam system is easy to follow, 47.1 % wanted to have single subject and 65.7% wanted to have all the major subjects simultaneously in block posting. 74.1 % said that the 6 hours learning period is tiring. 42.9 % were in favour of 3-6 pm break, 64.3% were in favour of giving MOCK test weekly, 55.7 % liked formative assessment test, 64.3 % did not adopt any unfair means in the examination, 78.6% students are comfortable with MCQ,81.4 % with SAQ, about 41.5% with SEQ, 74.2% with OSPE, 71.5% with SOE and 77.2% liked Clinical examination.

Evaluation of the Impact of Revised MBBS Curriculum: View of Intern Doctors

“…Evaluation of teaching curriculum by students is firmly recommended as a part of teaching -learning process 10 and has been attempted by a number of educational researchers. Most of the previous studies revealed overall satisfactory opinions regarding revised MBBS curriculum which differs from this study where majority (94%) has recommended a number of changes [11][12][13][14] . However these shared similar responses in few points as-increasing course duration 11,13 , community oriented trainings 12 , revising frequency of professional exams per year 11 , and rearranging block posting 14 , etc.…”

“…Regarding MBBS course content versus duration, majority of the respondents gave a positive opinion as in studies done earlier 12,13 where a few voted for content reduction 11 . Besides, 85% of the participants were satisfied with all the components of current assessment system where the rest showed different opinions like-balancing MCQ contents with SAQs, remodeling oral and practical assessment tools and exam schedules 11,15 .…”

“…Again, in phase specific analysis the factors mostly notified were; avoiding overlapping one phase contents with the other (e.g.-exclusion of community medicine from phase 1), scheduling each professional exam more frequently, splitting phase-II contents with independent end course exams, synchronizing lecture and clinical classes along with timely in-course assessments converting theoretical knowledge into practical skills 13,14 .…”

“…A logical and effective means of evaluation of any teaching curriculum is to assess the teaching-learning process from the students' point of view who have successfully experienced the changes as students during the entire course or in their medical practice as professionals 10 . Despite the fact curriculum reform has continued at pace around the world, there have been few studies evaluating the long term impact of these recommendations on students or the graduates [11][12][13][14][15] . This study was an attempt to evaluate different aspects of the revised undergraduate medical curriculum by gathering experiences of the MBBS graduates.…”