ORIENTATION PROGRAMME FOR FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS. A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Orientation Programme

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the perceptions of the students regarding its usefulness in academic and future prospects
and to get a clear picture of having promoted learning and ascertaining the standards
Study Design: A mixed methods research design was adopted.
Place and Duration of Study: Wah Medical College Wah Cantt, from Nov 2016 to Oct 2017.
Material and Methods: Sixty-five students of the first year MBBS were given questionnaire, quantitative data on
the feedback of orientation week was analyzed through the SPSS version 21. Likert based statistics were analyzed
as mean ± SD. The significance of gender related responses was found out by using Chi square test at a p-value of
0.05. The qualitative data was analyzed to identify emerging themes.
Results: Out of 65 students 26 (40%) were males and 39 (60%) were females. About half of the students (44.6%)
strongly agreed that the objective were clearly communicated. About 46.2% of the students felt that the
environment was safe and conducive for learning. Qualitative analysis generated nine themes in which the most
important were the future impact of the orientation week, interactive teaching, the concepts of medical ethics and
professionalism.
Conclusion: The students found that the topics discussed during the orientation week were of great relevance and
time allocated was adequate. However, it unfolded a couple of topics that needed more elaboration which could
be incorporated in the upcoming years.