Learning session on Disease mongering- Student feedback 390-395
Correspondence
Dr. P .Ravi Shankar, Manipal College of Medical Sciences, P. O. Box 155, Deep Heights.Pokhara, Nepal.E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
Background: Disease mongering may divert scarce resources from pressing health problems. Reports of learning sessions on disease mongering are lacking in the literature. The Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal admits students from Nepal, India and Sri Lanka to the undergraduate medical (MBBS) course.
Aim: The department of Pharmacology conducted a learning session on disease mongering for the third and fourth semester students. Student feedback about the session was obtained and student opinion was compared among different subgroups.
Methods: The session was conducted in small groups of 7 or 8 students each. The students were shown a documentary about the creation of a new disease called ‘Motivational Deficiency Disorder’. There was a short presentation by the first author and the groups were given a set of exercises to solve and this was followed by a presentation and discussion. Student opinion was collected using a questionnaire. Basic demographic information was collected and the degree of agreement of the respondents with a set of 15 statements was noted using a Likert-type scale.
Results: 117 students participated; 67 were from the third semester. The median total score of the respondents was 53 (maximum possible score 75) and the interquartile range was 48.5-55.5. The score of most individual statements was 4. Nepalese and Indians were the major nationalities. Majority of students were self-financing and from urban areas. No significant difference in the median score was seen among the different subgroups.
Conclusion: The overall opinion about the session was positive. A single session can only serve as a preliminary introduction to this complex topic. The session should be continued and strengthened.