Time Management in Final Year Medical Students, Khon Kaen University

Abstract

Background : The success in learning medicine needs a great effort.  Time management skills including planning in advance, prioritizing work, test preparation and following schedules are regarded as the essential skills for medical students to cope with an overloaded curriculum and working hour in patient wards.  We hypothesized that the high grade point average (GPAs) students during 6 year > 3.00 have time management skills better than students with GPAs lower than  3.00.

Objective : To explore time management skills between the high GPAs group at 3.00 or higher and the low GPAs group at less than 3.00.

Methods : One hundred and forty-one final year medical students in Khon Kaen Medical School were asked by the questionnaires on the graduate day in academic year 2006.

Results : The questionnaire return rate was 80.14% (113 in 141).  The study showed that female medical students significantly received the GPAs higher than males, 59.7 and 32 % respectively (p=0.006).  Time spending for  exercise, studying in dormitory, planning time in advance, prioritizing work, test preparation, and note-taking were not significantly different betweeen the two groups.

Conclusions : The female medical students had academic performance better than the males.  Time management skill was almost no difference observed between high and low GPAs students.  Other factors influencing academic performance need to be explored.

Keywords : Time management skills, medical student