Mohd Zarawi Mat Nor

Nurturing professional identity through a community based education program: medical students experience

Objectives Community-based education (CBE) has an impact on the types of medical students produced at the end of medical training. However, its impact on professional identity development (PID) has not been clearly understood. This study thus explores the effect of the CBE program on PID. Methods A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted on a group of Universiti Sains Malaysia medical students who had finished the Community and Family Case Study (CFCS) program. Data were gathered through focused group discussions and student reflective journals. Participants were sampled using the maximal variation technique of purposive sampling. Three steps of thematic analysis using the Atlasti software were employed to identify categories, subthemes, and themes. Results Personal, role, social, and research identities were generated that contribute to the PID of medical students through the CFCS program. The results indicate that the CFCS program nurtured personal identity through the development of professional skills, soft skills, and personal values. Pertaining to role identity, this is related to patient care in terms of primary care and interprofessional awareness. Pertaining to social identity, the obvious feature was community awareness related to culture, society, and politics. A positive outcome of the CFCS program was found to be its fostering of research skills, which is related to the use of epidemiology and research methods. Conclusion The findings indicate that the CFCS program promotes PID among medical students. The current data highlight and provide insights into the importance of integrating CBE into medical curricula to prepare future doctors for their entry into the profession.

Snapshot of academic dishonesty among Malaysian nursing students: A single university experience

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate academic dishonesty among nursing students at a public university in Malaysia. Methods This study utilized a descriptive and cross-sectional design to evaluate academic dishonesty among nursing students using a purposive sampling method. The participants of this study consisted of 201 students from diploma (Year 2 and 3) and degree (Year 2 to Year 4) nursing programmes. A self-administered, validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Institutional ethics committee clearance was obtained prior to commencement of the study. Results The results of this study showed that 82.1% and 74.6% of nursing students had engaged at least once in an act of academic dishonesty in an academic or clinical setting, respectively. The most frequent form of academic dishonesty in an academic setting was plagiarism (77.1%). There was a significant association between gender and academic dishonesty in a clinical setting (p < 0.01). There was a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.603, p < 0.001) between academic dishonesty in academic and clinical settings. Conclusion Academic dishonesty in both academic and clinical settings is a common problem among nursing students in Malaysia. Training on academic ethics is required in nursing curricula to improve the quality of education among nursing colleges and reduce the prevalence of unethical behaviours among students.

Teaching Effectiveness during Lectures in Universiti Sains Malaysia School of Medical Sciences

Lecturers are expected to teach effectively and evaluating their teaching effectiveness are essential to ensure students get the best learning experience. A systematic evaluation of teaching behaviours with a proper feedback mechanism will help to improve their teaching effectiveness. Improvement of teaching effectiveness will result in better students’ learning experience, and thus attaining the intended educational outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate teaching effectiveness among lecturers by assessing their teaching behaviours during lectures. A cross-sectional study was conducted on lecturers in a Malaysian public medical school. Their teaching behaviours were rated by 30 trained pre-clinical medical students using Teacher Behaviour Inventory (TBI) on seven aspects – organisation, speechpacing, clarity, enthusiasm, interaction, rapport, and disclosure. A total of 55 lecturers were rated by the medical students. The organisation and speech-pacing aspects were highly rated as the mean scores were 4.02 and 4.15, respectively. The clarity, enthusiasm, interaction, and rapport aspects attained satisfactory level as the mean scores ranged from 3.10 to 3.59. The disclosure aspect was poorly rated as the mean score was 2.20. Eventhough all lecturers in this school are considered expert in their area, findings from this study suggest that some teaching behaviour need some improvement. Findings from this study also provide useful data for the medical school to chart direction of faculty development activities to improve their lecturers’ teaching effectiveness during lectures.