Medical students’ preferences in using various learning resources for physiology

Background: The number of resources available and accessible to medical students studying a Physiology in their phase 1 of M.B.B.S. is growing in leaps and bounds. Apart from traditional learning resources such as lectures and textbooks, students are increasingly using e-learning tools to learn Physiology. The students’ preference for learning resources has not been studied in detail in any Indian settings. The deeper and better understanding of the tools used by students for learning medical Physiology could provide useful information to medical educators when designing and implementing Physiology curriculum for medical students.

 

Methods: 200 first M.B.B.S students were invited to complete an online survey. Questions asked were pertaining to students’ frequency of using different types of resources when learning Physiology in first year of M.B.B.S.

 

Results: 192/200 (92%) of students completed the survey, with the respondent age between 17 -19 years. The gender distribution was even, with male (n =93, 46.50%) and female (n = 99, 54.50%) students responding to the survey. The students preferred to attend practical classes (RII = 0.95), read textbooks for learning a topic (RII = 0.91), attend a lecture class (RII = 0.85) and attend a small group discussion (RII = 0.81).

 

Conclusion: Inspite of increase in e-learning resources, traditional resources like attendance in practical classes, reading textbooks for learning a topic, attendance in lecture class and attendance small group discussion for learning Physiology are preferred ways by the students.