Student participants’ perception about Medical quiz at the Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal

Abstract

Background: Quiz has been used as an active learning strategy in medical schools. The Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal admits students from Nepal, India, Sri-Lanka and other countries for the undergraduate medical course. A medical quiz program (called Mediquiz) has been organized at the medical school for the last four years. The present study was carried out to obtain information on the student perceptions towards Mediquiz and note the association, if any, of the perception with respondent characteristics.

Materials and Methods: The study was carried out during March 2006 using a semi-structured questionnaire. Demographic information was collected. Student attitudes towards Mediquiz were studied by noting their degree of agreement with a set of twelve statements. The median total scores were compared among different subgroups of respondents using appropriate non-parametric tests (p<0.05).

Results: Seventy-one of the 80 students (88.7%) participating in the quiz preliminaries completed the questionnaire. Thirty-nine respondents (54.9%) were Nepalese and 29 (40.8%) were Indians; 47 respondents (66.2%) were male. The median total score was 41 (maximum score 60) and was higher among the Nepalese. Text books, multiple choice question books, journals and the internet were used for preparation.

Conclusions: The student opinion was positive and Mediquiz was an enjoyable active learning experience. The respondents felt that there was an unfair advantage for the fourth and ninth semester students. The quiz should be conducted more frequently and improvements to make it more informative and enjoyable can be considered.