Advances in Medical Education and Practice (May 2024)
The Relation Between Theoretical and Practical Exams for Health Sciences Students at King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences- Jeddah
Abstract
Reham Kaifi,1– 3 Khalid M Alshamrani,1– 3 Sami Al-Nasser,4,5 Aamir Omair,4,5 Majid S Althaqafy2,6 1Department of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 2King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 3Medical Imaging Department, Ministry of the National Guard - Health Affairs, Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 5King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 6Infection Prevention and Control Department, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Reham Kaifi, Email [email protected]: A comprehensive approach to assessment is essential to ensure that all students’ learning competencies are measured accurately. Therefore, multiple methods of assessment have been developed to address this matter. This Study aims to assess the correlation between health sciences students’ performance on theoretical and practical exams.Methods: A correlational study design was conducted. The academic performance of 352 students across theoretical/practical courses was tested. SPSS version 29.0 was used for analysis. Spearman’s rho correlation (Rs), Wilcoxon, and Mann Whitney were computed at p< 0.05.Results: The theoretical performance was strongly correlated with the practical performance of all programs pooled together (Rs (352) = 0.67, p< 0.001). Also, there was a strong correlation between theoretical and practical performance for male students (Rs (181) = 0.72, p< 0.001), while a moderate correlation for female students (Rs (171) = 0.53, p< 0.001). Mann–Whitney test revealed significant mean performance difference by gender both at theoretical (U = 9284, p< 0.0001) and practical (U = 11,373, p < 0.0001) levels.Conclusion: There were significant correlations between theoretical knowledge and practical skills across the selected four programs.; The mean student’s performance was better in the practical skills than in the theoretical knowledge assessment, and female students surpassed male students in both practical and theoretical assessments in the four programs offered to both genders.Keywords: correlation, health sciences student, King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz, performance, KSAU-HS
