Pokryszko-Dragan Anna, Mottershead John, Aitken Gill
Department of Neurology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland.
Department of Neurology, Dunedin Public Hospital, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Neurol Neurochir Pol. 2019;53(1):61-73. doi: 10.5603/PJNNS.a2018.0004. Epub 2019 Jan 7.
Diseases of the nervous system are an important contributor to clinical and social problems. Therefore there is a need to provide undergraduates and postgraduates of medical faculties with adequate training in neurology. However, many shortcomings have been observed in this field, often associated with students' negative perception of neurology. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes towards neurology amongst undergraduates of the medical faculty at Wroclaw Medical University, and the reasons for these attitudes. As a qualitative component of the study, a focus group discussion was conducted with six fifth year undergraduates. The findings of the focus group and a literature search informed the content of a questionnaire distributed among fifth year students of the medical faculty, including non-Poles attending English Division. The responses to the closed questions were analysed quantitatively and subjected to statistical analysis while the free text comments were analysed qualitatively. Triangulation of the findings from the focus group and the survey was performed. 134 Polish students and 75 English-speaking ones responded to the survey. The majority of participants perceived neurology to be interesting and important for medical education, and it was highly ranked as a potential future speciality. The majority of the survey respondents regarded neurology as difficult and mentioned specific drawbacks. In spite of similar general perceptions of neurology, Polish and English- -speaking students differed in their perceptions of particular aspects, conditioned by diversity in cultural backgrounds and earlier experiences associated with neurology. The course in neurology affected attitudes towards the subject more than preceding experiences, mostly in a positive manner. The fifth year medical undergraduates expressed mostly positive attitudes towards neurology. Cultural background and the course in neurology were the main factors contributing to attitudes in these students.
神经系统疾病是临床和社会问题的重要成因。因此，有必要为医学院的本科生和研究生提供足够的神经学培训。然而，在这一领域已观察到许多不足之处，这些不足往往与学生对神经学的负面看法有关。本研究的目的是探讨弗罗茨瓦夫医科大学医学院本科生对神经学的态度以及形成这些态度的原因。作为研究的定性部分，我们与六名五年级本科生进行了焦点小组讨论。焦点小组的研究结果和文献检索为分发给医学院五年级学生（包括就读于英语授课专业的非波兰学生）的问卷内容提供了参考。对封闭式问题的回答进行了定量分析并进行统计分析，而自由文本评论则进行了定性分析。对焦点小组和调查的结果进行了三角互证。134名波兰学生和75名说英语的学生对调查做出了回应。大多数参与者认为神经学对医学教育而言有趣且重要，并且作为未来可能从事的专业，神经学的排名很高。大多数受访者认为神经学很难，并提到了具体的缺点。尽管对神经学的总体看法相似，但受文化背景差异和与神经学相关的早期经历影响，波兰学生和说英语的学生在对特定方面的看法上存在差异。神经学课程对学生对该学科的态度影响大于先前的经历，且大多产生积极影响。医学院五年级本科生对神经学大多持积极态度。文化背景和神经学课程是影响这些学生态度的主要因素。
