Table 5 Recommendations by recent medical school graduates
Theme | N | % | Examples Quotes |
|---|---|---|---|
Integrate research into the medical curriculum: Early introduction and allocation of more dedicated time for structured research courses and projects into the medical training to ensure students are consistently exposed to research throughout their education. | 128 | 29.8 | “The syllabus should be reshaped to give more influence for research” - SW063 “Add (research) projects to more courses in Medical School, not just Community Medicine.” - SE039 “Research should begin earlier on in medical school as opposed to only doing research in final year, and it should be made compulsory as part of the curriculum so students can actively participate.” - NE068 “A given period of time in training should be solely located for research without interference from other departments of academic activities, as this will fuel focus and increase proficiency.” - NC083 |
Mentorship & Networking: Strong mentorship including engaging students as research faculties research assistantship; Networking opportunities with other students nationally and globally. | 108 | 24.7 | “Medical schools should create more mentor-mentee relationships on thesis writing” - NW026 “Students should be encouraged to play the roles of research assistants to consultants and other staff in academia so as to imbibe the research culture early on.” - SS026 “Creating a research club or society that’s open to all medical students and with provision of mentorship from faculty members” - NW048 “Potential mentors and supervisors should stop exploiting young undergraduates for data collection and research without given them full acknowledgement and authorship status. If no reward is perceived for doing research, there is no motivation to do research.”MS01 |
Funding: Create opportunities for student grants, scholarships and institutional support to reduce barriers to conducting research including a dedicated national medical student grant to motivate impactful research. | 97 | 22.6 | “The government should work with educational agencies to refine our medical curriculum to meet global standards to accommodate more research. This will also mean funding should be earmarked for undergraduate research.” - SS002 “Funding, funding, funding. Enough of the (KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE) type research by students, which to be honest, only adds to the already pile load of researches done by students with little to no impact.” - NW048 |
Research training and skills development: Provide comprehensive training to develop students’ research skills in data analysis, and software use. | 55 | 12.8 | “Teaching Data analysis in medical school to cut the cost of students going to search for analysts that will help them” - SE031 “Adequate training on statistical software early on in medical school.” - NC002 “I believe in introducing research into medicine but also in encouraging members of faculties to develop their research lab and recruit medical students.” - SW070 |
Opportunities for Conferences and Publications: Expand opportunities for students to attend and present at conferences, and support them in publishing their research findings. | 54 | 12.6 | “Room for presenting their research works. When you research and dump your work, it doesn’t give you any motivation to do more.” - NE012 “Journal clubs that are accessible to all, also, university waiver of Article processing fee and Nigeria leaving Group B in research for life category” - SW039 “All universities should have a school journal where students can access it for publishing their work.” - NE007 “Students should be made to assist lecturers on at least one research and should be trained on how to publish their works” - NC051 |
Enhance availability of research resources and tools: improve access to necessary tools and resources such as existing datasets and literature needed for conducting and publishing research. | 43 | 10.0 | “Provision of tools and resources” - SS019 “Some universities don’t have university emails for students making it difficult for students to explore research opportunities.” - SS002 |
Research Awareness: Educate students on the significance of research and its impact on their medical careers. | 24 | 5.6 | “Enlightenment of the medical students about the opportunity” - NC062 “Orientation of medical students into the importance of research work” - SW011 |