The Effect of Teaching Professionalism by Using Real Lifetime Scenarios in Undergraduate Medical Students: An Educational Trial

The objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of teaching professionalism by real lifetime scenario to undergraduate MBBS medical students.

This comparative quasi-experimental trial was conducted in OBS/GYN department from May 2019 to Jan 2020. The final year MBBS students of Shalamar Medical and Dental College, Lahore, who attended the clinical rotation of Gynae OBS were enrolled in the study using consecutive sampling. Each batch consists of 15 students. The first two batches were taken as active control, whereas the third batch was taken as an interventional group. The certified faculty in medical education assessed professionalism by using P-MEX at the start and end of the rotation in the gynae ward. P-MEX data are presented as mean and standard deviation. The comparison between the two groups was done using independent sample t-test, and pre- and post-comparison within group was done by paired sample t-test. P-value less than 0.05 was considered as significant.

Among the 45 students, 28 (62.22%) were male and 17 (37.78%) were female. Age and gender were statistically similar in both groups. The average total score, at the start of the rotation of the intervention group was 1.95±0.294, whereas the active control group was 2.23±0.31. At the end of the rotation, the average total score of the intervention group was 3.22±0.48 and active control was 2.56±0.53. Pre- and post P-MEX score was statistically significant with P<0.001.

This research showed that the teaching of professionalism using real lifetime scenarios led to statistically significant improvement of professionalism in the form of P-MEXmean score among final MBBS students.t of Shalamar Medical & Dental College( SMDC) from May 2019 to Jan,2020. Final year MBBS students of SMDC who attended the clinical rotation of OBGY were enrolled for study. The students in first two batches were taken as control and assessed for professionalism by using P-MEX at the start and end of rotation with the traditional teaching being taught. The third batch was taken as interventional group & were assessed in the start of rotation. Then professionalism was taught in the teaching session of 2 hours by lifetime scenario ,twice at interval of one week. Then they were evaluated at the end of rotation by using P-MEX. The comparison between the two groups was done by entering data in SPSS version 24. Data presented as mean and standard deviation. Comparison between two groups was done through independent sample t test. Result showed the statistically significant improvement in doctor patient relationship, reflective skills, and time management & interprofessional skills. The P-MEX score remained “below expectation” in control group whereas improved to “met expectation” in intervention group.

This nonrandomized controlled educational trial showed the teaching of professionalism using real lifetime scenarios lead to improvement of professionalism among final MBBS students from the level of below expectation to level of met expectation as assessed by P-MEX.