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Medical Students' Attitude and Perception Towards Embryology Course at Debre Markos University, Ethiopia
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.
Introduction:
Medical students' attitudes and perceptions are crucial for designing an anatomy curriculum that meets the standards for safe medical practice.
Objective:
To assess the attitude and perception of medical students towards the clinical relevance of embryology at Debre Markos University.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted at Debre Markos University from March 10 to April 20, 2022. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire includes students' attitudes, career choices, and perceptions of integration of embryology and teratology courses. All viewpoints were rated using a positive Likert scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". Data were entered using EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis.
Results:
A total of 246 medical students participated in the study. About 159 (64.63%) medical students perceived that embryology requires understanding in the clinics. More than half of the respondents, 169 (68.70%) perceived that embryology is most clinically relevant for all basic sciences. About two-thirds of medical students, 189 (76.83%) agreed that integration of embryology and teratology courses in the first and second years was better than teaching each discipline alone. More than half of medical students, 145 (58.94%) also preferred problem-based learning that combines embryology and teratology. About 201 (81.71%) medical students perceived that virtual reality is more effective than images in the textbook for teaching embryology.
Conclusion:
In this study, most of the medical students have a positive attitude toward the embryology course. The first-year curricular integration of embryology and teratology must be maintained, and great effort is required to improve students' passion for developmental anatomy/embryology. These findings might be utilized as an additional motivation for the improvement of the embryology course, with a focus on the practical application of knowledge in a clinical context.