Medical education: views and recommendations by final year MBBS students of a private medical college in Lahore.

OBJECTIVE To obtain the views and recommendations of final year MBBS medical students of Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore about various aspects of the current medical education. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore in October and November 2007. METHODOLOGY Preformed close ended structured questionnaire regarding medical teaching and evaluation methods and recommendations was used to collect the data from students of final year MBBS (n=120) at Lahore Medical and Dental College. SPSS 15 program was used for analysis. Data was presented as frequency percentages. RESULTS A majority of the students (79%) thought that multimedia was the most effective teaching tool, (54%) students viewed 45 minutes as ideal lecture duration. Measures suggested to improve the examination results were regular tests (54%), improved lecture content (32%) and regular tutorials (10%). MCQ's were the mode of examination questions preferred by 62% of students. Recommendations given by students for improving the current medical education were better teaching (26%) followed by increased motivation in students 54 (16%) and more hands-on training/practical field work (12%). CONCLUSION Medical students in this study preferred multimedia, lecture duration less than 45 minutes and MCQ's as their preferred mode of evaluation. Students recommended increased emphasis on better lectures, increasing learning motivation in students and more hands on training/practical field work to improve current medical teaching.