Attitudes of medical students to HIV and AIDS

Is there any difference between attitude of interns toward psychiatric illness and other chronic medical conditions? A comparative study

BACKGROUND

Attitude of doctors towards specific medical conditions plays a crucial role in patient care. Internship, being the final stage in undergraduate medical students' training, can have a bearing on the attitude they develop towards various specialties. However, there is dearth of Indian studies comparing the attitude of interns towards psychiatric illness and other chronic medical conditions. In this background, the study was conceived with the objective of comparing the attitude of interns towards psychiatric illness and other chronic medical conditions.

AIMS

(1) To compare the attitude of interns towards Psychiatric illness and Diabetes Mellitus. (2) To compare the attitude of interns towards Psychiatric illness and HIV/AIDS.

SETTING AND DESIGN

Conducted at Sri Siddhartha medical college, Tumakuru as a cross sectional study.

METHODOLOGY

The sample for this cross sectional study comprised of 130 interns in a tertiary care teaching hospital who had completed their postings in Psychiatry. Medical Condition Regard Scale (MCRS) was used to assess the attitude of interns towards Psychiatry, Diabetes Mellitus and HIV/AIDS.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

SPSS 20 was used with Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests to analyze the data obtained.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference between the overall MCRS scores for Diabetes Mellitus and psychiatric illnesses. However, many individual items and the overall scores of MCRS were significantly higher for psychiatric illnesses when compared to those for HIV/AIDS.

CONCLUSIONS

The attitude of interns towards Psychiatric illness was comparable to that towards Diabetes Mellitus. However, their attitude towards Psychiatric illness was more favorable than that towards HIV/AIDS. Further studies need to focus on the various aspects of stigma/ attitude and the effect of undergraduate medical training on those aspects.

Assessment of the knowledge and attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS among pre-clinical medical students in Israel

BACKGROUND

Today's medical students are the future physicians of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). It is therefore essential that medical students possess the appropriate knowledge and attitudes regarding PLWHA. This study aims to evaluate knowledge and attitudes of pre-clinical Israeli medical students and to assess whether their knowledge and attitudes change throughout their pre-clinical studies.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among all pre-clinical medical students from the four medical schools in Israel during the academic year of 2010/2011 (a total of 1,470 students). A self-administered questionnaire was distributed. The questionnaire sought student responses pertaining to knowledge of HIV transmission and non-transmission routes, basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS treatment and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS.

RESULTS

The study's response rate was 62.24 percent. Knowledge among pre-clinical medical students was generally high and showed a statistically significant improvement as students progressed through their pre-clinical studies. However, there were some misconceptions, mostly regarding HIV transmission via breastfeeding and knowledge of HIV prevention after exposure to the virus. Students' attitudes were found to include stigmatizing notions. Furthermore, the majority of medical students correlated HIV with shame and fear. In addition, students' attitudes toward HIV testing and providing confidential medical information were contradictory to health laws, protocols and guidelines. Overall, no positive changes in students' attitudes were observed during the pre-clinical years of medical school.

CONCLUSION

The knowledge of pre-clinical medical students in Israel is generally high, although there are some knowledge inadequacies that require more emphasis in the curricula of the medical schools. Contrary to HIV-related knowledge, medical students' attitudes are unaffected by their progression through medical school. Therefore, medical schools in Israel should modify their curricula to include teaching methods aimed at improving HIV-related attitudes and adherence to medical professionalism.

[Not Available]

El proceso de estigmatización asume una devaluación de la persona debido a una característica o marca que haya sido identificada socialmente y que permita que se le describa como diferente. Desde que se desató la epidemia del VIH/SIDA, vivir con la enfermedad ha sido señalado de manera social como una marca estigmatizante. Las manifestaciones de dicha estigmatización se han documentado entre profesionales de la salud. Este estigma puede afectar los servicios de salud que las personas que viven con VIH/SIDA reciben de estos profesionales. Los objetivos de esta investigación fueron explorar: 1) la percepción que tienen estudiantes y profesionales de la salud sobre su nivel de competencia para ofrecer servicios a personas que viven con VIH/SIDA, 2) las opiniones de éstos sobre el tipo de adiestramiento profesional recibido y la necesidad del mismo, y 3) la manifestación de actitudes estigmatizantes como indicadores de necesidad de adiestramiento profesional. La muestra total del estudio estuvo compuesta por 80 de diversas profesiones de la salud. Los resultados reflejan que algunos/as de los/as participantes han recibido formación en VIH pero ésta no ha sido suficiente para contrarrestar las nociones estigmatizantes. Discutimos las implicaciones de los resultados para investigaciones futuras y el desarrollo de intervenciones con vías de minimizar las nociones estigmatizantes en los escenarios de salud.

The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome on medical house staff: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE

To explore the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on a medical training program and to develop principles for professional training programs to consider in dealing with future, similar crises.

DESIGN

Qualitative interviews analyzed using grounded theory methodology.

SETTING

University-affiliated hospitals in Toronto, Canada during the SARS outbreak in 2003.

PARTICIPANTS

Medical house staff who were allocated to a general internal medicine clinical teaching unit, infectious diseases consultation service, or intensive care unit.

RESULTS

Seventeen medical residents participated in this study. Participants described their experiences during the outbreak and highlighted several themes including concerns about their personal safety and about the negative impact of the outbreak on patient care, house staff education, and their emotional well-being.

CONCLUSION

The ability of residents to cope with the stress of the SARS outbreak was enhanced by the communication of relevant information and by the leadership of their supervisors and infection control officers. It is hoped that training programs for health care professionals will be able to implement these tenets of crisis management as they develop strategies for dealing with future health threats.

International comparison of medical students' perceptions of HIV infection and AIDS

This analysis compared medical students' perceptions of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in two cities in two countries with different cultural and educational backgrounds. A total of 292 first- and second-year medical students (45% sample) were surveyed from New Jersey Medical School and from Benin Medical School, Nigeria. Compared with the Benin students, the Newark medical students were significantly more knowledgeable and had more positive attitudes and behaviors regarding HIV infection and AIDS. Misperceptions regarding certain modes of transmission of HIV were significantly higher among the Benin students than the Newark students. Compared with the Benin students, the Newark students had more frequent sexual intercourse and used condoms more frequently, but the Benin students had more sex partners. Perception of personal risk and concern of contracting AIDS was significantly higher among the Newark students than the Benin students. These results indicate it is important that medical educators in medical schools convey accurate information to improve medical students' perception regarding HIV infection and AIDS.