Abulaban Ahmad A, Obeid Tahir H, Algahtani Hussein A, Kojan Suleiman M, Al-Khathaami Ali M, Abulaban Abdulrhman A, Bokhari Maryam F, Merdad Anas A, Radi Suhaib A
Neurology Division, Department of Medicine, King Fahad National Guard Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, PO Box 377033, Riyadh 11335, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. E-mail:
Neurosciences (Riyadh). 2015 Jan;20(1):37-40.
To assess the attitude of medical students and junior physicians toward neurology.
A self-administered, previously validated, questionnaire was distributed among 422 students and junior physicians at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from September to December 2012. In this cross-sectional study, the questionnaire included demographic data and 12 statements to examine attitudes toward neurology using a Likert scale.
The response rate among participants was 70.3%. The mean age was 22.35 (SD+/-1.28) years. Males comprised 46.2%. While 31.3% of students had not decided regarding their future career, 11.8% selected neurology as their first possible choice. Whereas 29.6% of students were not satisfied with their neurology teaching experience, 84.4% found neurology difficult, and 42.7% of the whole group thought that their neuroscience knowledge was insufficient. Advanced clinical year students (namely, interns) were less likely to consider neurology as a career choice (p=0.001).
Most of the students had an unfavorable attitude toward neurology on the Likert scale. New strategies are needed to change students` attitude toward this demanding specialty.
评估医学生和初级医师对神经病学的态度。
2012年9月至12月，在沙特阿拉伯吉达阿卜杜勒阿齐兹国王大学向422名学生和初级医师发放了一份预先验证过的自填式问卷。在这项横断面研究中，问卷包括人口统计学数据以及12条使用李克特量表来考查对神经病学态度的陈述。
参与者的回复率为70.3%。平均年龄为22.35（标准差±1.28）岁。男性占46.2%。虽然31.3%的学生尚未确定其未来职业，11.8%的学生将神经病学选为其首个可能的职业选择。29.6%的学生对其神经病学教学经历不满意，84.4%的学生认为神经病学难学，且整个群体中有42.7%的人认为他们的神经科学知识不足。临床高年级学生（即实习生）将神经病学视为职业选择的可能性较小（p = 0.001）。
在李克特量表上，大多数学生对神经病学持负面态度。需要新的策略来改变学生对这一高要求专业的态度。
