Akef Obeidat

Perceived influential factors toward participation in undergraduate research activities among medical students at Alfaisal University—College of Medicine: A Saudi Arabian perspective

Abstract Background: The importance of undergraduate research (UR) to students is well acknowledged in literature; however, little is known about its perceived barriers. The aim of study is to explore the perceived barriers toward participation in UR activities among students at Alfaisal University—College of Medicine, Saudi Arabia. Methods: An online, anonymous, cross-sectional, self-rating survey was administered. A two-tailed Mann–Whitney U-test was used to compare the average five-point Likert scale responses between male and female students. Results: Two-hundred and twenty-one students (n = 221/350) participated in the survey with a 63.1% response rate. The percentage of participation in UR significantly differed by gender (males vs. females: 68.6% vs. 45.4%; p < 0.0005, Chi-square test). The top three barriers toward participation in UR were “lack of time” (77.4%), “lack of formal UR courses in curriculum” (76%) and “lack of UR mentors” (70.1%). Statistically significant differences of means were identified between male and female students regarding the following statements: “lack of supervising research mentors” (p < 0.01), “lack of interest in research” (p < 0.04), “lack of finding same-gender research mentor” (p < 0.00) and “lack of UR opportunities” (p < 0.00). Conclusion: Our results were fairly comparable to the Western studies. Medical educators should carefully look into all UR barriers and consider implementing applicable solutions.

Can blended learning and the flipped classroom improve student learning and satisfaction in Saudi Arabia

Objectives To evaluate student academic performance and perception towards blended learning and flipped classrooms in comparison to traditional teaching. Methods This study was conducted during the hematology block on year three students. Five lectures were delivered online only. Asynchronous discussion boards were created where students could interact with colleagues and instructors. A flipped classroom was introduced with application exercises. Summative assessment results were compared with previous year results as a historical control for statistical significance. Student feedback regarding their blended learning experience was collected. Results A total of 127 responses were obtained. Approximately 22.8% students felt all lectures should be delivered through didactic lecturing, while almost 35% felt that 20% of total lectures should be given online. Students expressed satisfaction with blended learning as a new and effective learning approach. The majority of students reported blended learning was helpful for exam preparation and concept clarification. However, a comparison of grades did not show a statistically significant increase in the academic performance of students taught via the blended learning method. Conclusions Learning experiences can be enriched by adopting a blended method of instruction at various stages of undergraduate and postgraduate education. Our results suggest that blended learning, a relatively new concept in Saudi Arabia, shows promising results with higher student satisfaction. Flipped classrooms replace passive lecturing with active student-centered learning that enhances critical thinking and application, including information retention.

Reprioritizing current research trends in medical education: A reflection on research activities in Saudi Arabia

Abstract Background: There are numerous national efforts to determine and develop research priorities of medical education in Saudi Arabia. These priorities were first proposed in 2010 by “Dr Al-Khuli’s Chair for Developing Medical Education in Saudi Arabia”. The proposed priority domains were: curriculum, students, faculty, and quality assurance and accreditation. Aim: To investigate publications in medical education at the national and international levels in areas relating to these proposed priorities. Methods: Electronic search within PubMed database for papers relating to each domain of priority was conducted at national and international levels in the last three years, using the same keywords as the priority domains, but only confined to undergraduate medical education. Results: Out of 3145 articles retrieved when searching with keyword as broad as “undergraduate medical curriculum” only 81 articles worldwide and 3 articles from Saudi Arabia were dealing with curriculum related issues as a whole. Further search on the sub-domains “effective strategies to manage undergraduate curriculum” and “undergraduate medical education models”, resulted in the retrieval of few articles worldwide and none from Saudi Arabia. At the national level, there were 63 publications from Saudi Arabia that were either course (topic)-specific or could not be classified under the four domains specified by Dr Al-Khuli’s Chair. Conclusion: Research activities in medical education in Saudi Arabia in the last 3 years showed diversity and lack of focus in the research priorities. Efforts of academic and research centers should continue to monitor and encourage these activities toward achieving the recommended priorities.

Perceptions of preclinical medical students towards extracurricular activities

Objectives To determine the percentage of students involved in extracurricular activities (EAs), explore relationships between participation in EAs and students’ characteristics, and investigate students’ perceptions (i.e., motives and barriers) towards participation in EAs. Methods An online, anonymous, random, cross-sectional, self-rating survey was administered during spring 2015-2016 to second-year and third-year students (n=340). Chi-square test was used to explore relationships between participation in EAs and students’ characteristics. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare the mean 5-point Likert scale responses according to students’ characteristics. Statistical significance was determined as p<0.05. Results Two hundred thirty-seven students participated in the survey (n=237/340, response rate: 69.7%). Only 143 students (60.3%, n=140/237) participated in EAs, and this percentage significantly differed by gender (χ2(1, N=237)=4.3205, p<0.037), nationality (χ2(1, N=237)=18.7069, p<0.000) and cumulative grade point average (cGPA, χ2(1, N=237)=17.8296, p<0.000). The top three motives towards participation in EAs were: “improve resume” (83.5%, n=198), “improve networking skills” (82.7%, n=196) and “improve teamwork skills” (76.8%, n=182). The top three barriers towards participation in EAs were: “lack of time” (61.2%, n=145), “lack of equal opportunities in EAs” (57.8%, n=137) and “lack of curricular emphasis of EAs” (52.7%, n=125). There was a statistically significant difference of means between male (mean=2.8) and female (mean=3.2) students regarding the following barrier: “affect academic performance negatively” (U=5389.5, p<0.002). Conclusions The participation rate in EAs was satisfactory, and positively related to students’ characteristics of male gender, non-Saudi nationality and high cGPA. Medical schools should facilitate all potential motives and resolve all associated barriers towards participation in EAs.

Dual-degree MBBS–PhD programs in Saudi Arabia: A call for implementation

Abstract Engaging medical students in scholarly research activities and producing clinically competent and research-oriented medical workforces are essential demands, particularly in developing countries. Dual-degree MD–PhD programs offer simultaneous rigorous education in medicine and research, and train its graduates (physician–scientists) to successfully catalyze translational research evolutions. Literature fundamentally identifies dual-degree MD–PhD programs as the single most important, well-established, popular and influential programs toward commencing physician–scientist professions. While the physician–scientist population is alarmingly vanishing in the West with ongoing efforts to reverse this undesired trend, such population is largely nonexisting, unfortunately to start with, in Saudi Arabia. This is simply because no single dual-degree MBBS–PhD program is yet established in Saudi Arabia. Herein, we call on the Saudi Higher Education bodies to implement dual-degree MBBS–PhD programs with anticipated generation of competent physician-scientists in Saudi Arabia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ever report to call for such innovative implementation.

The Integrated Clinical Anatomy Program at Alfaisal University: An Innovative Model of Teaching Clinically Applied Functional Anatomy in a Hybrid Curriculum.

Anatomy has historically been a cornerstone in medical education regardless of specialty. It is essential for physicians to be able to perform a variety of tasks, including performing invasive procedures, examining radiological images, performing a physical examination of a patient, etc. Medical students have to be prepared for such tasks, and we can assist this by changing the way that we educate students in medical schools. Thus, newer medical curricula need to be designed according to needs of future physicians. In this report, we describe a unique program called the Integrated Clinical Anatomy Program (ICAP). The ICAP was developed at the College of Medicine of Alfaisal University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Here, we describe the unique features of this program, including the structure and facilities of the Anatomy Resource Center. The Anatomy Resource Center plays a pivotal role in engaging the students for faculty-directed structured laboratory sessions as well as peer-assisted uniform student-centered learning. The ICAP has shown great promise, as reflected by early results from a nationwide progress test. Students from all years of the Alfaisal University medical school scored significantly higher than the national average on the anatomy and physiology component of the nationwide progress test examination, with P values of 0.0179 and 0.0015, respectively. We believe that the ICAP can be used as a model for teaching clinically applied functional anatomy to medical students in a hybrid curriculum around the world.

Exciting new ideas in medical education emerged from SIMEC 2012

There has been a rapid change and important development in medical education in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the past 10 years (Bin Abdulrahman 2011; Telmesani et al. 2011). The number of medical schools has been doubled to 31 over the past 5 years (Bin Abdulrahman 2011; Bin Abdulrahman et al. 2012). Almost, all recently found medical schools establish medical education departments, which have resulted in significant progress in staff development and quality assurance. Furthermore, a national frame-work for a competence specification for Saudi medical graduates was developed in order to ensure the delivery of equivalent standards between medical schools throughout the country while guaranteeing the schools’ autonomy at the same time (Zaini et al. 2011). The Saudi Society for Medical Education (SSME) and the Saudi Deans Committee (SDC) have actively involved in medical education in Saudi Arabia and among their exciting contributions and achievements is the establishment of the Saudi International Medical Education Conference (SIMEC), which is the official international medical education conference of SSME and SDC (Bin Abdulrahman et al. 2012). SIMEC is one of the largest international meetings in medical education dedicated to reporting and discussing recent developments and research in the medical education. SIMEC 2012 was the third conference to be held in Saudi Arabia and was hosted by the College of Medicine at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh from 22 to 26 April 2012. This meeting covered all aspects of medical education in five major themes; namely: Theme 1: Trends in curriculum planning and development; Theme 2: Teaching and learning: the teacher’s toolkit and contexts for learning; Theme 3: What is a good assessment and written performance assessment?; Theme 4: Accreditation/International dimensions of medical education and Theme 5: Innovating in medical education. More than 30 leading international medical education experts from 15 countries shared their experiences in medical education with more than 1500 participants from Saudi Arabia and other countries. An interesting, innovative feature of the meeting was the presentation of electronic posters (e-posters). The presenters were asked to upload their e-posters prior to the meeting, which were available electronically for display on several boards throughout the meeting. The technology allowed any one poster to be examined on a board and for additional information to be immediately retrieved relating to the content of the poster, for example additional text, illustrations or video. Of the vast array of e-posters, short communications and other forms of research presented at the meeting, many interesting ideas truly stood out. This article aims to review the most intriguing and thought provoking ideas presented at the SIMEC 2012, mentioning how these ideas may influence or impact medical education in the near future. Among the short communications presented was the findings of ‘‘Prevalence of Harassment and Discrimination among Residents in Saudi Hospitals’’ by Naif Fnais and his research team. Such an important issue was not addressed before in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and the findings of the study stand out as the most eye opening. The researchers carried out a multi-institutional observational retrospective cross-sectional survey on residents from all residency training programs in the National Guard Hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, from 27 July to 20 August 2010. In addition, to racial and gender discrimination, several forms of harassment were studied including verbal, sexual, physical and academic. The results of this survey show that 84% of participants have experienced one form or another of harassment within Saudi Hospitals. Verbal abuse and gender discrimination were the most frequently experienced forms of harassment and discrimination (61.5% and 58.29%, respectively). Surprisingly, sexual harassment was also commonly reported (19.34) with the majority of complaints from females. Another striking finding was that 22.4% of the participants want to pursue another career (Fnais et al. 2012). This type of working environment is counter productive and the authors stress the need to continue their study to find the cause of such harassment. It is however, important to note that the study did not state what was defined as harassment and did not provide explanations of harassment in the perspective of the residents. Furthermore, an important limitation of the study is the differences the residents have in their perception with regards to harassment and discrimination. In a country such as Saudi Arabia, which has males and females separated from working environments at a young age, it is important to understand what these individuals believe to be harassment, and whether

Interest and perceived barriers toward careers in academic medicine among medical students at Alfaisal University – College of Medicine: A Saudi Arabian perspective

Abstract Aims: [1] Identify the percentage of undergraduate students who are interested in academic medicine (AM) careers, [2] Explore the relationship between students’ characteristics, previous experiences and interest in AM careers and [3] Determine students’ perceived barriers toward AM careers at Alfaisal University – College of Medicine. Methods: An online, anonymous, random, self-rating survey was administered during spring 2013–2014 to second-year and third-year students (n = 302). Chi-square test was used to correlate between interest in AM careers and students’ characteristics. Mann–Whitney U-test was used to compare the mean 5-point Likert scale responses between male and female students. Results: A total of 231 students participated in the survey (response rate: 76.5%). A total of 32 students (13.9%) expressed interest in AM careers, and this percentage significantly differed by gender, academic year, interest in teaching and research and previous research experiences (p < 0.05). The top three barriers were “lower income” (77.5%), “competing pressures to fulfill clinical-teaching-research duties” (73.6%) and “lack of career advising” (69.7%). As opposed to males, females achieved higher statistically significant differences of means regarding: “competing pressures to fulfill clinical-teaching-research duties” (p < 0.001) and “lack of same-gender role models in AM careers” (p < 0.000). Conclusions: AM careers were unpopular by students. Curricular, extracurricular and institutional measures should be implemented to rectify this dilemma.

Predictive validity of pre-admission assessments on medical student performance

Objectives To examine the predictive validity of pre-admission variables on students’ performance in a medical school in Saudi Arabia. Methods In this retrospective study, we collected admission and college performance data for 737 students in preclinical and clinical years. Data included high school scores and other standardized test scores, such as those of the National Achievement Test and the General Aptitude Test. Additionally, we included the scores of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exams. Those datasets were then compared with college performance indicators, namely the cumulative Grade Point Average (cGPA) and progress test, using multivariate linear regression analysis. Results In preclinical years, both the National Achievement Test (p=0.04, B=0.08) and TOEFL (p=0.017, B=0.01) scores were positive predictors of cGPA, whereas the General Aptitude Test (p=0.048, B=-0.05) negatively predicted cGPA. Moreover, none of the pre-admission variables were predictive of progress test performance in the same group. On the other hand, none of the pre-admission variables were predictive of cGPA in clinical years. Overall, cGPA strongly predict-ed students’ progress test performance (p<0.001 and B=19.02). Conclusions Only the National Achievement Test and TOEFL significantly predicted performance in preclinical years. However, these variables do not predict progress test performance, meaning that they do not predict the functional knowledge reflected in the progress test. We report various strengths and deficiencies in the current medical college admission criteria, and call for employing more sensitive and valid ones that predict student performance and functional knowledge, especially in the clinical years.