Knowledge, attitudes and practices of training doctors in a tertiary care hospital in Bahrain towards health research

Abstract EN

Background: Health research methodology is becoming essential research types in current clinical practice.

Training for necessary research skills and practicing research early in the career are found to be associated with continued professional academic growth.

The aim of this study is to assess the research-related knowledge, attitude, and practices of training doctors, in the main tertiary care and training hospital, in Bahrain.

Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted among 142 trainee doctors, recruited in the Specialty Training Residency Program (STRP) at all levels, in Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC).

They completed self-filled questionnaire which was developed using questionnaires from previous studies and included demographic, knowledge, attitude, and practice, related to health research.

Results: A total of 142 training doctors participated in the study.

More than half of them (55.6%) considered their level to be good, while only 12 (8.5%) assessed themselves to be excellent.

Although majority of the respondents (87.3%) thought that training doctors should participate in research, only one-third (34.5%) of them felt confident in interpreting and writing research.

When asked about the main limitation to conduct health research, the participants ranked lack of mentors and/or assistants as the first limitation (63.4%), followed by lack of time (49.3%), and lack of research curriculum (40.1%).

Conclusion: Training doctors have an excellent attitude towards health research and good knowledge, but their participation in research does not match with their attitude and knowledge.

An urgent change in the curriculum and training of the postgraduate programs is needed to include health research participation.