JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Research methodology features little in undergraduate medical curricula. Student selected components (SSCs) are designed to offer some opportunities, but frequently fail to meet student or supervisor expectations, such as completion, and/or publication. We hypothesised that a collaborative, educational approach to a systematic review (SR), whereby medical students worked together may improve student experience and increase success.

Objective:

To establish whether offering a small team of students the opportunity to take part in the screening phase of systematic reviews led by an experienced post-graduate team could enhance the learning experience of students, overcome the barriers to successful research engagement, and deliver published output.

Methods:

Postgraduate researchers from the University of Cambridge led a team of 14 medical students working on 2 neurosurgical SRs. One student was appointed as leads for each SR. All students were provided with training on SR methodology and participated in title and abstract screening using Rayyan software. Students completed pre-screening, mid-screening and post-screening questionnaires on their research background, perceptions, knowledge, confidence, and experience. Questions were scored on a Likert scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 10 (strongly agree).

Results:

Of the 14 students involved, 28.6% reported that they had received sufficient training in research methodology at medical school. Positive trends in student knowledge, confidence, and experience of SR methodology were noted across the three questionnaire time points. Mean responses to “I am satisfied with the level of guidance I am receiving’ and ‘I am enjoying being involved in the SR process’ and ‘I could not gain this understanding of research from passive learning e.g. textbook or lecture’ were greater than 8.0 at all time points. Students reported ‘being involved in this research has made me more likely to do research in the future’ (8.57+/-1.50) and that ‘this collaborative SR improved my research experience’ (8.50+/-1.56).

Conclusions:

This approach appears an effective method of providing students with research training and experience, which could facilitate the successful completion of SSCs. Clinical Trial: N/A