Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Abstract BACKGROUND: In India, competency‑based medical education (CBME) is gaining foothold to
transform the medical student into a doctor fulfilling community and societal needs. With that end
in view the teaching faculty are getting sensitized and trained by the National Faculty Development
Program (FDP). We aimed to assess the awareness about FDP among teaching faculty in medical
colleges and study the attitude and perceived barriers to implementation of CBME.
METHODOLOGY: A cross‑sectional, electronically distributed, questionnaire‑based study was
conducted among medical faculty in India. The questionnaire identified participants’ awareness,
attitude, and perceived barriers to CBME. Descriptive analysis was employed for continuous variables
and internal comparison employing Chi‑square test with α <0.05 for statistical significance.
RESULTS: Among 251 participants 90.2% faculties from private institutes had undergone FDP as
against 71% from Government sector (P = 0.008). We observed that 92.4% were aware, 80.2%
had undergone Curriculum Implementation Support Program and 95.2% did agree that CBME will
improve the medical education system. Major challenges perceived were high student to faculty
ratio (67.7%), ill developed infrastructure (41.4%) and difficulties in assessment (41.1%). The popular
solutions suggested were to increase faculty strength (73.7%), improve infrastructure (69.3%), extra
remuneration (35.9%) and increase administrative support (30.7%). There was significant difference
of opinions between teaching faculty of government and private sector (P = 0.017).
CONCLUSION: Most of the medical faculty are aware of the need and have acquired a positive
attitude towards enforcement of CBME. However, significant barriers do exist in the form of manpower
and resources which need to be addressed.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Medical Council of India has suggested competency‑based curriculum for
undergraduate students to make it learner centric. One‑month “Foundation course” was introduced
at the beginning of the course to promote better adaptation to the new curriculum. A cross‑sectional
study was conducted to analyze the feedback from students who attended the foundation course.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: All first‑year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery students
who underwent 1‑month foundation course were included in the study. The course was conducted
in six modules. All the sessions were handled by efficient resource people and conducted in an
interactive manner. A form in which response against each topic/talk was graded as average, good,
or excellent was used to obtain the feedback. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Sciences 16 software. Responses among various modules were subjected to Chi‑square
two‑sided test with Yates’s correction.
RESULTS: A total of 98 students (32 males and 66 females) attended the foundation course of
21 days. Among the modules conducted, basic skill training module was scored excellent (67%)
remarks, followed by sports and extracurricular activities (64.6%) (P = 0.8806). Among the skill
training module, both basic life support training and first aid on medicine/pediatrics achieved 92%
excellent score. One of the orientation module sessions, research methodology, scored least. The
descending order of excellent remarks was skill module > sports and extracurricular activities > field
visit to the community and primary health center > orientation modules > enhancement of language.
CONCLUSION: Attention should be given to include more topics concerned to the modules of
skill training and extracurricular activities in upcoming years. Foundation courses can increase the
confidence and better adaptability of the students toward a new environment.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Today’s Bachelor in Medicine, Bachelor in Surgery (MBBS) students will become
Indian Medical Graduates in future. Emotional intelligence (EI) is an essential component in the
making of an Indian Medical Graduate. There is increasing stress during medical training. The study
was conducted to compare the association of EI score and perceived stress scale (PSS) among
average and excellent undergraduate medical students. The secondary objective was to find the
predictors of excellent academic performance.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive cross‑sectional study was conducted after institutional
ethics committee approval. All 522 consented students studying in 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 9th semesters filled
up established pre‑validated questionnaires ; Schutteself report EI test and Cohen’s perceived stress
scale. Sociodemographic details of the respondents were collected. Average attendance and marks
of previous semester examinations of all included students were collected from academic cell of the
institution. All students were grouped into three groups: average, good, and excellent performers
from the marks collected. Comparison of EI scores and PSS scores was done between students in
excellent and average groups using unpaired t‑test.
RESULTS: Of the 94.9% of respondents, 78.2% of the students were included in the study. The mean
EI and PSS scores were 123 ± 14.5 and 22.8 ± 13.9, respectively. There was no statistically significant
difference in EI scores between average and excellent performers ([123.8 ± 18.7] vs. [127.7 ± 16];
P – 0.089). Perceived stress was lower in excellent performers ([20.9 ± 11.1] vs. [24.8 ± 15.0];
P – 0.01). EI was associated with better performance in clinical year students. EI was negatively
correlated to perceived stress.
CONCLUSION. Our study provides predictors of excellent academic performances among Indian
medical undergraduates. This study suggests introduction of extracurricular activities in ongoing
undergraduate curricular syllabus. It imparts awareness among students about the importance of
attending classes. This study bestows higher EI and lower perceived stress to better academic
performance.