Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study.
In developing countries, education to health-care professionals is a cornerstone in the battle against neglected tropical diseases (NTD). Studies evaluating the level of knowledge of medical students in clinical and socio-demographic aspects of NTD are lacking. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:734c1686dd854b28b59f9f4b0e04bfbd 2023-05-15T15:16:36+02:00 Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study. Renato A Errea George Vasquez-Rios Jorge D Machicado Maria Susana Gallardo Marilhia Cornejo Jorge F Urquiaga Diego Montoya Rodrigo Zamudio Angelica Terashima Luis A Marcos Frine Samalvides 2015-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004197 https://doaj.org/article/734c1686dd854b28b59f9f4b0e04bfbd EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4629886?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0004197 https://doaj.org/article/734c1686dd854b28b59f9f4b0e04bfbd PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 9, Iss 11, p e0004197 (2015) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004197 2022-12-30T22:09:21Z In developing countries, education to health-care professionals is a cornerstone in the battle against neglected tropical diseases (NTD). Studies evaluating the level of knowledge of medical students in clinical and socio-demographic aspects of NTD are lacking. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted among students from a 7 year-curriculum medical school in Peru to assess their knowledge of NTD by using a pilot survey comprised by two blocks of 10 short questions. Block I consisted of socio-demographic and epidemiological questions whereas block II included clinical vignettes. Each correct answer had the value of 1 point. Out of 597 responders (response rate: 68.4%), 583 were considered to have valid surveys (male:female ratio: 1:1.01; mean age 21 years, SD ± 2.42). Total knowledge showed a raising trend through the 7-year curriculum. Clinical knowledge seemed to improve towards the end of medical school whereas socio-demographic and epidemiological concepts only showed progress the first 4 years of medical school, remaining static for the rest of the curricular years (p = 0.66). Higher mean scores in socio-demographic and epidemiological knowledge compared to clinical knowledge were seen in the first two years (p<0.001) whereas the last three years showed higher scores in clinical knowledge (p<0.001). In conclusion, students from this private medical school gained substantial knowledge in NTD throughout the career which seems to be related to improvement in clinical knowledge rather than to socio-demographic and epidemiological concepts. This study assures the feasibility of measuring the level of knowledge of NTD in medical students and stresses the importance of evaluating education on NTD as it may need more emphasis in epidemiological concepts, especially at developing countries such as Peru where many people are affected by these preventable and treatable diseases. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 9 11 e0004197 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Renato A Errea George Vasquez-Rios Jorge D Machicado Maria Susana Gallardo Marilhia Cornejo Jorge F Urquiaga Diego Montoya Rodrigo Zamudio Angelica Terashima Luis A Marcos Frine Samalvides Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
In developing countries, education to health-care professionals is a cornerstone in the battle against neglected tropical diseases (NTD). Studies evaluating the level of knowledge of medical students in clinical and socio-demographic aspects of NTD are lacking. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted among students from a 7 year-curriculum medical school in Peru to assess their knowledge of NTD by using a pilot survey comprised by two blocks of 10 short questions. Block I consisted of socio-demographic and epidemiological questions whereas block II included clinical vignettes. Each correct answer had the value of 1 point. Out of 597 responders (response rate: 68.4%), 583 were considered to have valid surveys (male:female ratio: 1:1.01; mean age 21 years, SD ± 2.42). Total knowledge showed a raising trend through the 7-year curriculum. Clinical knowledge seemed to improve towards the end of medical school whereas socio-demographic and epidemiological concepts only showed progress the first 4 years of medical school, remaining static for the rest of the curricular years (p = 0.66). Higher mean scores in socio-demographic and epidemiological knowledge compared to clinical knowledge were seen in the first two years (p<0.001) whereas the last three years showed higher scores in clinical knowledge (p<0.001). In conclusion, students from this private medical school gained substantial knowledge in NTD throughout the career which seems to be related to improvement in clinical knowledge rather than to socio-demographic and epidemiological concepts. This study assures the feasibility of measuring the level of knowledge of NTD in medical students and stresses the importance of evaluating education on NTD as it may need more emphasis in epidemiological concepts, especially at developing countries such as Peru where many people are affected by these preventable and treatable diseases. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Renato A Errea George Vasquez-Rios Jorge D Machicado Maria Susana Gallardo Marilhia Cornejo Jorge F Urquiaga Diego Montoya Rodrigo Zamudio Angelica Terashima Luis A Marcos Frine Samalvides |
author_facet |
Renato A Errea George Vasquez-Rios Jorge D Machicado Maria Susana Gallardo Marilhia Cornejo Jorge F Urquiaga Diego Montoya Rodrigo Zamudio Angelica Terashima Luis A Marcos Frine Samalvides |
author_sort |
Renato A Errea |
title |
Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study. |
title_short |
Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study. |
title_full |
Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study. |
title_fullStr |
Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Medical Student Knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Study. |
title_sort |
medical student knowledge of neglected tropical diseases in peru: a cross-sectional study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004197 https://doaj.org/article/734c1686dd854b28b59f9f4b0e04bfbd |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 9, Iss 11, p e0004197 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4629886?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0004197 https://doaj.org/article/734c1686dd854b28b59f9f4b0e04bfbd |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004197 |
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PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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9 |
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11 |
container_start_page |
e0004197 |
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