Investigating the scientifi c process skills of medical students in relation to medical decision making: Research on basic medical science competence.
Abstract
Background: Medical students are expected to convey scientifi c literacy and possess certain scientifi c skills prior to being admitted to medical schools. Laboratory practices being provided during their education play a crucial role in their professional development and the usefulness of these practices is possible and can be enriched if the students possess prior scientifi c skills. Th e purpose of this study is to determine the scientifi c process skills of second year medical students in Suleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Medicine, Turkey. Methods: Th e study was conducted in April 2006 by using the Scientifi c Process Skills Questionnaire (SPSQ) for laboratory practices. Randomly selected (n = 76) second year medical students participated in the study. Results: Nine basic scientifi c process skills were investigated. All of the students responded correctly to the question that measured their ability to interpret data. Students abilities to set up hypothesis and make esestimations were found quite high. (94.7 %, 92.1 % respectively) Th e two skills that were challenging to students were the ability to make an observation and their profi ciency in scales. Th e percentage of correct responses to those questions were 50 % and 50.5 % respectively. Conclusions: Th e study suggests that students in the study group possess the necessary scientifi c process skills at some degree (86 %). However, this ratio, thus the productivity of laboratory practices can be enhanced by building up on skills such as making observations and interpreting scales. Quality in medical education cannot be achieved if we do not provide our students with basic scientifi c process skills early in their education.Downloads
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