Usefulness of Foundation Course for Undergraduate Medical Students Immediately following the Course and One-year thereafter: A Post-test Quasi-experimental Study

Abstract

Introduction: The National Medical Commission (NMC) introduced a one-month “Foundation Course (FC)” at the commencement of medical school to promote better adaptation to the new competence-based medical education curriculum starting from the academic year 2019. The effectiveness of the program was studied in previous researches conducted over one month, and it was found to be effective. However, the effectiveness with which students could implement the acquired basic knowledge and skills in subsequent years of study has not been reported. Aim: To explore the effectiveness of various modules and their competencies in the FC immediately at the end of the program and to assess the usefulness of the acquired competencies in subsequent academic years. Materials and Methods: A post-test quasi-experimental study was conducted at SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, Kattangulathur, South India, within the education department over a period of three academic years. A total of 450 student participants from the academic years 2019 to 2022 were involved in two stages. A total of 36 competencies were evaluated across the six prescribed modules by the NMC. A five-point Likert scale was used for the evaluation. Feedback questionnaires were administered immediately at the end of the program and again at the completion of the academic year. Analysis was conducted using the non parametric “Wilcoxon signed-rank test” to determine the usefulness of the program in subsequent years by comparing immediate feedback with responses after one year. Results: The mean scores for various competencies ranged between 3.5 and 4.5 out of 5, indicating that the overall competencies in the FC were very effective. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed a p-value of <0.0001, indicating high significance regarding the effectiveness of usage in subsequent years. Out of the 36 competencies, 16 were most frequently used by the students in the following year, 12 were moderately used, and 8 were least used. Conclusion: The evaluation of the NMC-mandated FC program, in terms of overall immediate performance and its effectiveness in subsequent years, yielded very promising results.

Keywords

• competencies
• competency-based medical education
• foundation course
• graduate medical education
• medical students