Attitude, Knowledge, and Experience of Research Work of Medical Instructors in Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital

Abstract

Objectives: To study the attitude, knowledge, and experience of research work of medical instructors in Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital. Obstacles to do research work and supports needed from the faculty were also investigated.

Methods: This descriptive study included medical instructors who practiced in Faculty of Medicine Vajira hospital during October 1, 2012 and November 30, 2012. Characteristics of the subjects, their attitude, knowledge and experience related to research were collected by self-answering questionnaires.

Results: One hundred and forty three medical instructors (65.0% of all 220 medical instructors working in the institution during the study period) were enrolled. Nearly two thirds (62.9%) were male while 37.1% were female. The mean age was 41.7 ± 8.1 years (28-59 years). A raise in salary or an academic promotion were the main incentives of the instructors to do the research (69.2%). Slightly over two thirds of the medical instructors (67.2%) aimed to do the research within the next 1-2 years. Most of the instructors (80.4%) had training in research methodology, but most of the training were short-course training of ≤ 1 week. Nearly two thirds (65.7%) believed that they could conduct the research by themselves with some support from research mentors. Regarding the research experience, 86.0% got involved in some research works and 46.9% were the principal investigators, while 43.4% had published articles and 28.7 % as the first author in the past 2 years. Inadequate time and too much workload was the most common obstacle to do research work (67.8%). The most common support that the subjects needed was assistance in statistical analysis (76.9%), followed by English literacy writing (51.1%) and preparing the manuscript for publication (42.0%).

Conclusion: Most subjects had positive attitude towards research. Most had knowledge and experience in doing research. The main problem was inadequate time to do the research.