Integrated learning of epidemiology and biostatistics in Medicine Degree : student assesment

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze how medical second-year students assessed the integration of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in a course, and to compare students´ perceptions at the onset and at the end of the academic year. Two questionnaires were administered to 102 medical students in order to explore the extent to which they agreed/disagreed with a number of statements using a Likert scale. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare results. Upon completion of the course, 83% of participants reported that Biostatistics and Epidemiology were relevant topics in Medicine, and found it interesting to integrate both subjects. At the beginning of the course, 46.1% of participants thought the course would be interesting, whilst the number of students increased to 69.6% by the end of the course. Regarding the perceived relationship between Statistics and Medicine, the percentage rose from 69.6% to 83.3%. The percentage of students who believed that the subject was relevant in terms of developing fundamental skills for future professional practice rose from 41% at the beginning to 57.8% at the end of the course.