Postgraduate Medical Trainees Understanding of Biostatistics: A Pre- and Post-Research Methodology Workshop Experience.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate understanding of biostatistics among postgraduate medical trainees before and after biostatistics workshop.

STUDY DESIGN: Quasi experimental study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Regional Centre, Islamabad, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, from March to September 2017.

METHODOLOGY: Two hundred and seventy postgraduate trainees were enrolled after taking informed consent. Structured questionnaire containing 21 multiple choice questions regarding understanding and application of biostatistics was given to all participants on the first and the last day of workshop and compared pre- and post-workshop by McNemar test of significance. SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis with p-value <0.05 as significant level.

RESULTS: The response rate was 100%. Among these participants, males were 81 (30%) and females were 189 (70%), mean age was 28.5 ±2.5 years. One hundred and twenty-five (46%) postgraduate trainees were from Islamabad. Most of the doctors were in the first year (37%) and second year (57%) of their training. With total correct answers of 42.9% (preworkshop) and 57% (post-workshop), p-value was <0.001.

CONCLUSION: Understanding regarding application of biostatistics in research among PGTs improved significantly and immediately after teaching biostatistics in research methodology workshop.