What do medical students know about childhood asthma?
A questionnaire designed to measure knowledge about childhood asthma was completed by 216 of the 311 (69%) undergraduate medical students at the University of Newcastle. First year students had a mean score of 16.2 (maximum possible score was 31) which was similar to the background community score of 13.0 obtained in a group of parents with no close contact with asthma. Knowledge about asthma increased over each of the 5 years of the medical course. Final-year students had a mean score of 28.7 (range: 25-31) which was similar to a group of parents thought by their paediatricians to have a high level of knowledge about asthma (mean: 25.3, range: 18-31). The progression of knowledge over the 5 years of the course provided interesting information about the learning process. Although second year students completed the questionnaire after a term devoted to coursework in respiratory medicine, only 26% were able to name two preventive agents and 21% named three agents useful during acute attacks of asthma. Third year students gave correct responses in 39 and 45% of cases, respectively, and the correct response rates rose to 78 and 97% in the fifth year. This was probably because the theoretical knowledge needed to be acquired and tested against a clinical scenario before it could be used. The study demonstrated an increase in knowledge about asthma throughout the problem-based medical course. In addition to providing information about the educational process, it provided information about the questionnaire which was able to measure a range of knowledge and not just extremes of asthma knowledge.
Fitzclarence
C A
CA
University of Newcastle, Shortland, New South Wales, Australia.
Henry
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RL
D001249:Asthma / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires