Malaysian postgraduate training in psychiatry: Are our trainees having consistent problem in basic science?
- Author:
Hatta Sidi
;
Sharifah Ezat Wan Puteh
;
Fairuz Nari Abdul Rahman
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Malaysia, postgraduate education, basic sciences, outcome
- From:ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry
2008;9(1):6-13
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Objective: To assess postgraduate candidates’ knowledge on basic sciences and to compare
their achievement based on two years study in the Department of Psychiatry, National University of Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Methods: This is a study assessing
areas of difficulties in basic sciences for the Malaysian postgraduate candidates sitting for
mock MCQ examination papers in two consecutive years. Results: The candidates in both
years failed on MCQ papers (scoring marks are only 43% and 40% for the year 2006 and
2005 respectively), which is consistent with their final examination outcomes. The candidates
in the year 2006 were much superior in neuroanatomy (percentages of median scores: 47% vs.
31%, p<0.05), neurophysiology (54% vs. 47%, p<0.05) and psychology (44% vs. 41%,
p<0.05) domains compared to their counterparts taking examination in the year 2005. However, there was no difference in terms of other domains, such as neurochemistry, psychopathology and epidemiology in the examination outcomes for the year 2005 and 2006. Generally, the overall scores of the candidates participating in the year 2006 were much higher than
their previous counterparts. However, the scores of the candidates of both years were still low
in statistics (34.1% vs. 36.4%, p >0.05) and stress/immunology (38.2% vs. 37.3%, p>0.05).
Conclusion: Medical statistics and stress/immunology remain difficult subjects compared to
neurophysiology and psychopharmacology. Malaysian postgraduate candidates need more
efforts to understand basic sciences, especially statistics.
