Integration of academic learning and service development through guided projects for rural practitioners in India

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

Integrating academic learning with service development through guided projects is an effective teaching–learning tool providing benefits to students and community. Mixed method evaluation is a useful evaluation methodology. Application of criteria for trustworthiness enhances methodological rigor for qualitative data analysis. Medical colleges should incorporate projects into educational distance-learning programs to support doctors in rural hospitals.

Table 1.  Project topics of the students for the FSHM program for the years 2007–2008 and 2008–2009

Project topics of the FSHM students for the year 2007–2008

Knowledge of and Attitude to Leprosy

A Descriptive Study of the Involvement of a Non Government Organization in National AIDS Control Program-III

Biomedical Waste Segregation and Disposal Management, Bishop Walsh Memorial Hospital, Thadagam

Evaluation of Knowledge and Treatment of Thalassemia Among the Patients Admitted in Mercy Mission Hospital, Kolkata for Blood Transfusion

Case Series in the Department of Emergency Medicine

Development of an Institutional Program to Enhance Antimicrobial Stewardship at CSI Hospital, Bangalore

To Start a Diabetic Clinic

To Increase the Level of Knowledge of Basic Life Support Among the Nursing Staff and Doctors

Determinants of Utilization of Antenatal Care Services Amongst Pregnant Women in Evangelical Hospital, Khariar

Term Eclampsia and Severe Pre-Eclampsia: A Retrospective Study in a Mission Hospital in Rural Central India

Teaching First Aid and Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation to Nursing Assistants and a Group of Lay Persons

Project topics of the FSHM students for the year 2008–2009

Health Education for Schools

The Safety Profile of Tramadol in Labour

Cost Analysis of Minor Procedures

Improvement of the Existing District Microscopy Centre at Jalna Mission Hospital

An Overview of the Epidemiology of HIV in India and a Descriptive Analysis of HIV Interventions at the Grass Root Level

Evaluation of the MITRA Malnutrition Protocol

A Report on a Meningococcal Disease outbreak Based on Cases Presenting to KJP Assembly Hospital Jowai-Meghalaya

Starting Diabetic Clinic in the Community Health Centre of CSI Mission General Hospital, Tiruchirapalli

Cancer Care in a Secondary Hospital

Health Promotion in Children with Downs Syndrome

Study of Incidence of Meconium Stained Amniotic Fluid in a Secondary Hospital Set Up and their Neonatal Outcomes

Coronary Artery Disease – Primary Prevention

Health Program for Children Attending School at Dornakal Mission Compound

To Evaluate the Efficacy of Low Dose Ketamine in Providing Analgesia During Labor

A Study on Snake Bites

Labor Analgesia – Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices

Table 2.  Quantitative data of student and faculty responses to survey questions regarding effectiveness of project work in the FSHM program

Effectiveness of project work (students n = 16; faculty n = 13)
	Student response % (n)						Faculty response % (n)
Items	1	2	3	4	5	MS ± SD	1	2	3	4	5	MS ± SD
As an instructional method for the FSHM course	–	6 (1)	31 (5)	31 (5)	31 (5)	3.9 ± 0.9	–	8 (1)	31 (4)	46 (6)	15 (2)	3.7 ± 0.9
In helping students develop knowledge about local health problem	–	–	–	56 (9)	44 (7)	4.4 ± 0.5	–	–	31 (4)	39 (5)	31 (4)	4.0 ± 0.8
In helping students to learn skills to improve the local health problem	–	–	6 (1)	56 (9)	38 (6)	4.3 ± 0.6	–	15 (2)	31 (4)	46 (6)	8 (1)	3.5 ± 0.8
Mean effectiveness	–	–	31 (5)	50 (8)	19 (3)	4.2 ± 0.5	–	15 (20)	39 (5)	39 (5)	8 (1)	3.7 ± 0.7

Notes: 1, poor; 2, fair; 3, good; 4, very good; and 5, excellent; values are mean score ± standard deviation.