Al Ghailani Abdullah, Al Lawati Abdullah, Al Kharusi Fatma, Al Shabibi Ammar, Al Wahaibi Anas, Al Wardi Ali, Alyafai Abdullah, Al Sinawi Hamed
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, OMN.
Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, OMN.
Cureus. 2024 Mar 22;16(3):e56732. doi: 10.7759/cureus.56732. eCollection 2024 Mar.
There is a continuous rise in the total number and percentage of elders globally, and as such, they are expected to utilize healthcare services more often. Therefore, this study aimed to determine doctors' and students' current knowledge and attitudes toward elders and compare those findings with other studies worldwide. The specific objectives of this study were to determine and compare the differences in attitudes between medical students and doctors regarding geriatrics. This comparison will focus on the following four key domains: social values, resource distribution, compassion, and medical care. Another objective was to assess the knowledge of medical students and doctors regarding geriatric topics. This assessment will help determine the necessity for interventions such as educational programs and workshops on geriatrics.
This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted by disseminating a Google Forms survey to medical students and doctors. The survey included the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Geriatrics Attitudes Scale and the UCLA Geriatrics Knowledge Test. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 29.0.2.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.).
A total number of 126 medical students and 72 doctors filled out the survey. Both medical students and doctors demonstrated moderate scores on the attitudes scale, with overall average scores of 2.92 out of 5 and 2.93 out of 5, respectively. As for knowledge, medical students achieved an average score of 41%, while doctors attained an average score of 43%.
This study provides significant insights regarding the knowledge and attitudes of students and doctors and attitudes towards geriatrics. The moderate attitudes score and poor knowledge score across both groups indicate the need for medical educators in Oman to further emphasize and teach about geriatrics in medical curricula.
全球老年人的总数和比例持续上升，因此预计他们会更频繁地使用医疗服务。因此，本研究旨在确定医生和学生目前对老年人的知识和态度，并将这些结果与全球其他研究进行比较。本研究的具体目标是确定并比较医学生和医生在老年医学方面的态度差异。这种比较将集中在以下四个关键领域：社会价值观、资源分配、同情心和医疗护理。另一个目标是评估医学生和医生对老年医学主题的知识。这项评估将有助于确定开展老年医学教育项目和研讨会等干预措施的必要性。
本横断面问卷调查研究通过向医学生和医生发放谷歌表单调查问卷来进行。该调查包括加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）老年医学态度量表和UCLA老年医学知识测试。使用SPSS 29.0.2.0版本（纽约州阿蒙克：IBM公司）对数据进行分析。
共有126名医学生和72名医生填写了调查问卷。医学生和医生在态度量表上的得分均为中等，总体平均得分分别为满分5分中的2.92分和2.93分。在知识方面，医学生的平均得分为41%，而医生的平均得分为43%。
本研究为学生和医生对老年医学的知识和态度提供了重要见解。两组的中等态度得分和较差的知识得分表明，阿曼的医学教育工作者需要在医学课程中进一步强调和教授老年医学。
