Academic Misconduct Among Medical Students; A Multiple College Study

Muhammad Akram Saeed; Soufia Farrukh; Wajahat Hussain; Samina Badar; Arif Ahmed Zaidi; Huda Abbas

doi:10.51253/pafmj.v71i2.3518

Authors

Muhammad Akram Saeed Department of Community Medicine, Sialkot Medical College, Sialkot Pakistan
Soufia Farrukh Department of Ophthalmology, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur Pakistan
Wajahat Hussain Department of Community Medicine, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur Pakistan
Samina Badar Department of Community Medicine, Multan Medical & Dental College, Multan Pakistan
Arif Ahmed Zaidi Department of Community Medicine, Sialkot Medical College, Sialkot Pakistan
Huda Abbas Department of Community Medicine, Sialkot Medical College, Sialkot Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51253/pafmj.v71i2.3518

Keywords:

Academic misconduct, Medical colleges, Students

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of academic misconduct among students of medical colleges affiliated with University of Health Sciences in Punjab.

Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical study.

Place and Duration of Study: Different Public and Private sector medical colleges in Punjab affiliated with University of
Health Sciences, from Jan 2018 to Dec 2018.

Methodology: Multistage stratified random sampling technique was used to select the study subjects. Information was
collected on a self-administered questionnaire containing the common trends of academic misconducts. Data was entered and analyzed through SPSS version 22.

Results: Total 2000 students were enrolled in the study with equal participation from public and private sector. Mean age of
the respondents was 21.82±1.82 years. Overall frequency of academic misconduct was high i.e., 1928(96.4%). The most
frequent academic misconduct was asking friend to mark the proxy (84.45%) and the least frequent reported misconduct was using cell phone for exchange of answers (14.25%). The difference of academic misconduct among students of public andprivate sector medical college students was significant (p-<0.001). The academic misconduct was also significantly different(p=0.005) among students from rural and urban residential backgrounds.

Conclusion: Academic misconduct was found a serious problem among medical students studying in public and private
sector medical colleges of Punjab, Pakistan.
Key words: Academic misconduct, Medical col