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Kam KQ, Tan GSE, Tan K, Lim ECH, Koh NY, Tan NCK. Neurophobia in Medical Students and Junior Doctors—Blame the GIK. ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, SINGAPORE 2013. [DOI: 10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.v42n11p559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Introduction: We aimed to create a definition of neurophobia, and determine its prevalence and educational risk factors amongst medical students and junior doctors in Singapore. Materials and Methods: We surveyed medical students and junior doctors in a general hospital using electronic and paper questionnaires. We asked about knowledge, interest, perceived difficulty in neurology, and confidence in managing neurology patients compared to 7 other internal medicine specialties; quality and quantity of undergraduate and postgraduate neuroscience teaching, clinical neurology exposure, and postgraduate qualifications. Neurophobia was defined as ≤4 composite score of difficulty and confidence with neurology. Results: One hundred and fifty-eight medical students (63.5%) and 131 junior doctors (73.2%) responded to the questionnaire. Neurophobia prevalence was 47.5% in medical students, highest amongst all medical subspecialties, and 36.6% in junior doctors. Multivariate analysis revealed that for medical students, female gender (OR 3.0, 95% CI, 1.3 to 6.7), low interest (OR 2.5, 95% CI, 1.0 to 6.2), low knowledge (OR 10.1, 95% CI, 4.5 to 22.8), and lack of clinical teaching by a neurologist (OR 2.8, 95% CI, 1.2 to 6.6) independently increased the risk of neurophobia. For doctors, low interest (OR 3.0, 95% CI, 1.3 to 7.0) and low knowledge (OR 2.7, 95% CI, 1.2 to 6.2) independently increased the risk of neurophobia, and female gender was of borderline significance (OR 2.0, 95% CI, 0.9 to 4.6). Conclusion: Neurophobia is highly prevalent amongst Singapore medical students and junior doctors. Low interest and knowledge are independent risk factors shared by both groups; female gender may also be a shared risk factor. The mnemonic GIK (Gender, Interest, Knowledge) identifies the risk factors to mitigate when planning teaching strategies to reduce neurophobia.
Key words: Medical education, Phobia, Trainee doctors
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai-qian Kam
- Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Glorijoy SE Tan
- Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kevin Tan
- National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore
| | - Erle CH Lim
- Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
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Emsley H. Improving undergraduate clinical neurology bedside teaching: opening the magic circle. CLINICAL TEACHER 2009. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-498x.2009.00300.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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