Perception of students on foundation course conducted for first year MBBS students at AIIMS Bhubaneswar

AIIMS Bhubaneswar has introduced its Foundation course for MBBS students at entry level to sensitize them with requisite knowledge and skills so that they can acquire the attributes of a medical student and finally of clinician. A 10-day Foundation course was designed covering 12 topics by Academic Section of AIIMS Bhubaneswar in consultation with the Director. Various teaching-learning methods were followed for its conduction. On the last day, students' feedback was collected using a validated questionnaire which assessed four aspects of each session: content, teachinglearning methods, relevance and involvement of students. Analysis of data showed that barring a few sessions, more than 70% of students were satisfied to a great extent regarding all 4 attributes of the sessions. However, it was 48% in case of History of Medicine. Around 50% of students did not feel that they were involved in session of study skills and time management and computer knowledge and use of online resources in learning. 60-70 % of students did not feel that they were involved in sessions of History of Medicine, National Health Scenario and Ethics and Professionalism. The reason may be History of Medicine, National Health scenario and Computer skills and use of online resources sessions were conducted as a didactic lecture series which had less scope of student interaction. Students' feedback shows that inclusion of role-plays and small activities can help generate interest in a given topic. Overall students were satisfied with the conduct of foundation course and found it to be a very helpful and empowering start to their professional career.