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Medical electives: Students perspective.

OBJECTIVE
To identify possible learning targets of undergraduates who opted for local and foreign medical electives and to quantify their level of achievement.


METHODS
The cross-sectional study was conducted at Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad, in February 2014, and apprised undergraduates of either gender from second to final year MBBS who had already done medical electives in local or foreign hospitals for 2-4 weeks. Data collection tool was an anonymous questionnaire with four possible intended learning areas; career choice, learning from advanced system, career enhancement and peer pressure. Possible learning objectives were accredited with 'yes' or 'no' option and their level of achievement were quantified on Likert scale of 1 to 5.


RESULTS
Among the 45 undergraduates, 12(26.6%) were males and 33(73.3%)were females. A total of 26(57%) believed that electives helped them in making career choice, while 6(14%) disagreed and 7(16%) were not sure. Besides, 20(66%) students were expecting to learn from advanced system, 12(26.66%) felt that their expectations were met, and 11(24%) felt them better than expected. Career enhancement was the main objective of 16(38%) students with an achievement level of 4 and 5 in 11(24%) of students. Only 7(16%) considered peer pressure as one of the motivating factors for electives.


CONCLUSIONS
Main professional targets of undergraduates who had done medical electives were found to be learning from advanced system and career selection and an overall significant number felt that their target achievement was up to or beyond their expectations.