Medicine
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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty
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Item Qualities of tomorrow's doctor(Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2004) Weerasingha, M.; Pathiraja, M.; Vipulanayake, T.; Gunatilake, S.B.The General Medical Council in England has published a document named "Tomorrow's Doctors" which outlines the best qualities every new doctor should aspire to. First page of this document lists 15 qualities that a doctor must have. OBJECTIVE: A quantitative assessment of the 15 qualities a doctor must have to decide on the degree of importance of each quality. METHODS: We interviewed 50 first year medical students, 50 final year medical students, 35 intern house officers, 25 consultants, and 200 outpatient attendees selected randomly using a questionnaire to find out the degree of importance they attach to the above 15 qualities. Participants were asked to give a mark from 1 to 15 to each quality giving 15 to the most important quality. RESULTS: New medical students thought a thorough knowledge of medicine is the most important quality of a doctor (score 14.36/15) and the final years thought that the care of your patient being the first concern as the most important quality (13.66/15). House officers thought that treating patients politely and respecting their dignity and privacy were the most important (14/15). Consultants thought that the care of your patient being your first concern was the most important (14.48/15) and having a thorough knowledge of Medicine as the least important (9.58/15). The general public considered a thorough knowledge of medicine (13.34/15) and the care of your patient being the first concern (13.49/15) as the most important and respecting the rights of patients to be fully involved in decisions about their care as the least important (9.83/15). CONCLUSIONS: Public and the new students consider having a thorough knowledge of medicine as very important and respecting the rights of patients to be fully involved in decisions about their care as the least important. Medical personnel especially the consultants thought that having a thorough knowledge of medicine is not so important for a young doctor.Item Consumer knowledge and demand for antibiotics in Gampaha District(Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2005) Premaratna, R.; Weerasinghe, M.; Vipulanayake, T.; Mettananda, K.C.D.; Balasooriya, H.; de Silva, H.J.INTRODUCTION: Misuse of antibiotics in clinical practice is common. Patients' demand has been identified as a cause for wide use of antibiotics. Demand for antibiotics is affected by consumers' knowledge, attitudes, and medical practice. METHODS: Patients and their relatives attending out patient clinics in Colombo North Teaching Hospital and two private consultation clinics in the Gampaha District were interviewed using a pre¬tested questionnaire to study their knowledge of antibiotics and behavior during a febrile illness. RESULTS: Total population 763 [(487 females); Mean age 37.6 (SD; 15.9)]. Proper awareness of antibiotics was observed in 51/763(6.6%); with an increasing trend with level of education (LOE). More than 90% would accept any treatment prescribed by the doctor while antibiotics were expected by 64/763(8.3%) with no difference to LOE. During a febrile illness 563 (73.8%) visited a general practitioner within the first 2 days. Only 2 (0.3 %) claimed to have self-medicated with antibiotics. 376/487 (76%) females and 180/276 (65%) males expected some treatment without investigations. 67/487 (16%) of females and 34/276 (12%) males claimed they would have changed the doctor if there was no improvement in the first instance. Only 122/763 (16%) were aware of the cause for the most recent febrile illness they had suffered. CONCLUSIONS: In our population, knowledge of antibiotics, self medication and demand for antibiotics is lower than in European populations. Most of the patients are ready to accept any treatment prescribed and antibiotics were expected only by a minority. Therefore, patient behavior may not play a major role in the misuse of antibiotics.