Joubert Gina, Steinberg Wilhelm J, van Rooyen Francois C
Department of Biostatistics, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, 205 Nelson Mandela Drive, Bloemfontein, 9300 South Africa.
Department of Family Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Med Sci Educ. 2024 Jul 3;34(6):1343-1351. doi: 10.1007/s40670-024-02107-8. eCollection 2024 Dec.
Since 2001, undergraduate medical students at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa, plan, perform, and report on their research projects during semesters 2-5 of their ten-semester training. We describe the research modules and review the projects of the first 21 years.
This cohort study included all undergraduate medical student projects that formed part of the first 21 presentations of the research modules. Information was obtained from material archived by the module leaders. Students' 2020 feedback on the modules was summarised.
In total, 607 projects were planned (range 22-35 per year) and involved 229 supervisors. Only four projects were not completed. Thirty-nine Faculty departments/divisions/units provided supervision with Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Paediatrics and Child Health each supervising 60 or more groups. Projects were predominantly quantitative (99.7%); only 4.9% of projects involved an intervention or experiment. Main topics were infectious diseases (10.5%), mental health (8.9%), and cancer (8.7%). Data subjects were mainly patients (61.9%) and undergraduate students (12.0%), and data collection was mostly performed at the faculty's training hospitals or laboratories (71.4%). The most positive aspect indicated by students was the exposure to and learning about research; the most negative aspects were group work and supervisors.
The projects received support from a broad spectrum of supervisors and covered a wide variety of topics. Given the timing of the projects in the training programme, the mainly quantitative and observational nature of the projects was appropriate. Attention to supervision and group work is required.
自2001年以来，南非自由州大学（UFS）的本科医学生在其十个学期的培训中的第2至5学期规划、开展并报告他们的研究项目。我们描述了这些研究模块，并回顾了最初21年的项目情况。
这项队列研究纳入了作为研究模块前21次展示一部分的所有本科医学生项目。信息来自模块负责人存档的资料。总结了学生在2020年对这些模块的反馈。
总共规划了607个项目（每年22 - 35个不等），涉及229名导师。只有4个项目未完成。39个学院部门/科室/单位提供了指导，其中家庭医学、内科以及儿科学与儿童健康专业各自指导了60个或更多小组。项目主要是定量研究（99.7%）；只有4.9%的项目涉及干预或实验。主要主题包括传染病（10.5%）、心理健康（8.9%）和癌症（8.7%）。数据主体主要是患者（61.9%）和本科生（12.0%），数据收集大多在学院的教学医院或实验室进行（71.4%）。学生指出的最积极方面是接触和了解研究；最消极方面是小组作业和导师。
这些项目得到了广泛的导师支持，涵盖了各种各样的主题。鉴于项目在培训计划中的时间安排，项目主要的定量和观察性质是合适的。需要关注指导和小组作业。
