Medical Students' Perception Regarding Health Policy Teaching and Their Participation in Health Policy Roles: A Survey at a Public University in Malaysia

Mainul Haque¹, Nor Azlina A Rahman², Sayeeda Rahman³, Md Anwarul Azim Majumder⁴, Sharifah Shasha Binti Syed Mohdhar⁵, Halyna Lugova^{6

7}, Adnan Abdullah⁸, Shahidah Leong Binti Abdullah⁹, Mohd Hafizi Bin Ismail¹⁰, Jaykaran Charan¹¹, Santosh Kumar¹², Mohammed Irfan¹³, Ibrahim Haruna Sani¹⁴, Abdullahi Rabiu Abubakar¹⁵, Kona Chowdhury¹⁶, Farhana Akter¹⁷, Dilshad Jahan¹⁸, Rahnuma Ahmad¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ Unit of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
² Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan 25200, Malaysia.
³ School of Medicine, American University of Integrative Sciences, Bridgetown BB11114, Barbados.
⁴ Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown BB11000, Barbados.
⁵ Unit of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁶ Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Sungai Besi Prime Camp, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁷ Unit of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Sungai Besi Prime Camp, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁸ Unit of Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁹ Unit of Military Medicine, Clinical Psychologist, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
¹⁰ Unit of Administration, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Marudhar Industrial Area, 2nd Phase, M.I.A. 1st Phase, Basni, Jodhpur 342005, Rajasthan, India.
¹² Department of Periodontology and Implantology, Karnavati School of Dentistry, Karnavati University, 907/A, Uvarsad, Gandhinagar 382422, Gujarat, India.
¹³ Instituto Odontologico das Américas (IOA-Pelotas), 1399-Centro, Pelotas 96020-360, RS, Brazil.
¹⁴ Unit of Pharmacology, College of Health Sciences, Yusuf Maitama Sule University (YUMSUK), Kofar Kansakali-700282, Kano PMB 3220, Nigeria.
¹⁵ Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bayero University, Kano-700233, Kano PMB 3452, Nigeria.
¹⁶ Department of Paediatrics, Gonoshasthaya Samaj Vittik Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka 1344, Bangladesh.
¹⁷ Department of Endocrinology, Chittagong Medical College, Chattogram 4203, Bangladesh.
¹⁸ Department of Hematology, Asgar Ali Hospital, 111/1/A Distillery Road, Gandaria Beside Dhupkhola, Dhaka 1204, Bangladesh.
¹⁹ Department of Physiology, Medical College for Women and Hospital, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh.

PMID: 35742019
PMCID: PMC9223141
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10060967

Medical Students' Perception Regarding Health Policy Teaching and Their Participation in Health Policy Roles: A Survey at a Public University in Malaysia

Mainul Haque et al. Healthcare (Basel). 2022.

. 2022 May 24;10(6):967.

doi: 10.3390/healthcare10060967.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Unit of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
² Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan 25200, Malaysia.
³ School of Medicine, American University of Integrative Sciences, Bridgetown BB11114, Barbados.
⁴ Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown BB11000, Barbados.
⁵ Unit of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁶ Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Sungai Besi Prime Camp, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁷ Unit of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Sungai Besi Prime Camp, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁸ Unit of Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
⁹ Unit of Military Medicine, Clinical Psychologist, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
¹⁰ Unit of Administration, Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia), Kem Perdana Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Marudhar Industrial Area, 2nd Phase, M.I.A. 1st Phase, Basni, Jodhpur 342005, Rajasthan, India.
¹² Department of Periodontology and Implantology, Karnavati School of Dentistry, Karnavati University, 907/A, Uvarsad, Gandhinagar 382422, Gujarat, India.
¹³ Instituto Odontologico das Américas (IOA-Pelotas), 1399-Centro, Pelotas 96020-360, RS, Brazil.
¹⁴ Unit of Pharmacology, College of Health Sciences, Yusuf Maitama Sule University (YUMSUK), Kofar Kansakali-700282, Kano PMB 3220, Nigeria.
¹⁵ Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bayero University, Kano-700233, Kano PMB 3452, Nigeria.
¹⁶ Department of Paediatrics, Gonoshasthaya Samaj Vittik Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka 1344, Bangladesh.
¹⁷ Department of Endocrinology, Chittagong Medical College, Chattogram 4203, Bangladesh.
¹⁸ Department of Hematology, Asgar Ali Hospital, 111/1/A Distillery Road, Gandaria Beside Dhupkhola, Dhaka 1204, Bangladesh.
¹⁹ Department of Physiology, Medical College for Women and Hospital, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh.

PMID: 35742019
PMCID: PMC9223141
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10060967

Abstract

Background: Health policy is a set of comprehensive principles and legislations that guide how healthcare should be effectively delivered in the community. Medical schools should prepare students to undertake managerial responsibilities by incorporating health policy into the curriculum to deal with the intricacies of healthcare systems and their clinical roles in their future professional careers.

Objective: To examine medical students' perception at a Public University in Malaysia regarding teaching health policy and their participation in health policy roles.

Material and methods: A cross-sectional study using universal sampling was carried out among the medical students using a paper-based questionnaire to collect the data.

Results: Most respondents opined their willingness to learn health policy (80.9%) and that teaching health policy (83.6%) should be compulsory for medical students. The respondents thought health policy should be introduced earlier in Year 1 or 2. The student scores on their knowledge regarding health policy and year of study were significantly associated with their involvement in the health policy roles in both the simple and multiple logistic regression. Both statistical tests reported higher participation in health policy roles with the higher year of study, though only Year 4 and 5 were significant in the simple logistic regression and only Year 5 in the multiple logistic regression compared to Year 1. On the other hand, age and type of admission show significant results only in the simple logistic regression, while the race was only significant at the multivariate level.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that most respondents showed their willingness to learn health policy, participate in the health policy programs, and recommend that health policy be considered an essential topic in the medical curriculum, which should be taught right from the first year of medical school. We recommend encouraging students' participation in health policy activities.

Keywords: Malaysia; health; knowledge; medical students; perception; policy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares that they do not have any financial involvement or affiliations with any organization, association, or entity directly or indirectly with the subject matter or materials presented in this article. This includes honoraria, expert testimony, employment, ownership of stocks or options, patents or grants received or pending, or royalties.

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Medical Students' Perception Regarding Health Policy Teaching and Their Participation in Health Policy Roles: A Survey at a Public University in Malaysia

Affiliations

Medical Students' Perception Regarding Health Policy Teaching and Their Participation in Health Policy Roles: A Survey at a Public University in Malaysia

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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