Medical College Training: Obstacles and Solutions

      Students of medical colleges are anxious over on-the-job training; they find obstacles on the way; while others see life is going easy.

      Mohammed Al-Eisah, student at college of applied medical science, says, “On-the-job training is so important for students for helping them hone up their skills and giving them extensive experience they need for future. However, there are some obstacles like the low remunerations students receive and controlling duty hours of students in the postgraduate training year as if they were employees.

      Khalid Saleh, student at college of applied medical science, said, “Training is important to grasp courses practically. There are no hindrances standing against on-the-job training. Students turn out to specific training centers more than others. Yet, there is no real academic supervision. Students need to pay for some centers to receive training despite the government has provided all potentials and support to receive free-of-charge training.“

      Student Laima Abu Nyan, College of applied medical science, said, “All medical departments should be transferred into hospitals to help students receive proper practice. Practice should be in line with education as it is the best teaching method for students. I do support the idea of having summer training. However, some obstacles are there like that you need to know somebody in-between to make it easy for you to receive training.

      There is a high demand over getting training at big hospitals like the National Guard Hospital and King Faisal Specialized Hospital since students can get better GPA.”

      Shaima Al-Othman, student at College of applied medical science, said, “Training is the best way to have well-versed graduates. Yet, the biggest obstacles are having more than ten students in one training session and one-session a week. Summer training is so important. Unfortunately, there is no coordination between the university and training centers to provide summer training for female students, and few hospitals accept students for summer training.”

      Seeking to solve the low remuneration students receive, Dr. Adnan Qadi, vice-dean of Pharmacy College, said, “The College is doing its best to raise the postgraduate training remuneration into SR 2500 a month in the new academic plan. “ 

      Refuting students claim over summer training, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Majid, vice-dean for administration affairs, said, “No summer training is scheduled for undergraduates. Yet, for postgraduates there is around-the-year training. So, the latter have summer training.”