Awareness regarding research skills among clinical and academic post graduate doctors in teaching hospitals of Karachi

Objective: To assess the awareness regarding research skills among clinical and academic post-graduate doctors in teaching hospitals of Karachi. Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out from August to October 2012 in two teaching hospitals of Karachi. Total 92 doctors who were enrolled in academic and clinical post-graduation programmes were included in the study through convenience sampling. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire and analysed by SPSS version 20. Results: The mean age of the 92 doctors was 30.4+ 3.4 years; 49 (53.3%) were clinical; and 43 (46.7%) were academic post-graduate trainee doctors. Besides, 74 (80.4%) post-graduate doctors had attended research methodology course during their academic or professional careers. Low level of competence was found regarding various research skills, such as 56 (60.8%) in statistics, 47 (51.09%) in paper preparation, 40 (43.5%) in study design, 39 (42.4%) both in result interpretation and paper presentation, 37 (40.2%) in protocol writing and 35 (38.04%) in sampling technique. Moreover, 68(73.91%) doctors reported lack of research curriculum (p 0.001) as reason for low research output in Pakistan. Conclusion: Post-graduate medical doctors showed positive attitude towards research, but they lacked research skills .They needed training in all aspects of research skills.