Stress levels and academic performance in second-year medical students

Background: academic stress is one of the problems that mostly affects the physical and mental health of university students, in particular of the medical career. Objective: to establish the descriptive profile of academic stress and determine its relationship with academic performance in the subject Cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive and renal system, in students of the second year of the medical degree of the Branch of Medical Sciences of Puerto Padre, in the University of Medical Sciences of Las Tunas. Methods: an observational, analytical and correlative study was carried out in 71 students declared in the objective. To collect the information, the SISCO SV 21 inventory was used for the study of academic stress, and the teaching records were reviewed to obtain academic results. We analyzed variables, age, sex, academic stress, stressors, symptoms, coping strategies and academic performance. Descriptive and inferential tests were used in the statistical processing. Results: an average level of stress prevailed in the male sex and the high level in the female sex; the stressor predominated, "limited time to do the work"; the most frequent symptom was, "reluctance to do the school work" and as the main copying strategy used, "concentrate on resolving the worrying situation". Students with very high stress levels had the lowest grades. Conclusions: the profile of academic stress was established and its relationship with academic performance was determined in students of the second year of the medical career of Puerto Padre

Student dropping out during the first five years of the major of medicine

Background: the factors related to dropping out and academic failure are necessary indicators to be considered, so that the educational institutions draw guidelines to head to success.Objective: to determine the relationship some factors have to dropping out of school during the first five years of the major of medicine, at the Affiliated School of Medical Sciences of Puerto Padre of the University of Medical Sciences of Las Tunas.Methods: a retrospective analytical study was carried out with 87 medical students enrolled in the 2015-2016 academic year. The sample was divided into two groups, one with the 20 dropouts of the period and another one with the 67 students that continued their studies. The following variables were assessed: sex, age at registration, motivation, vocational orientation, study habits, intelligence quotient, educational level of parents, family functioning, pre-university performance, university results and repetition of the year.Results: 22,98 % of the matriculated students left school in the first three years; 90 % belonged to the female sex; demotivation reached 60 %; 70% spent less than 15 hours a week to study; 60 % repeated at least one year of study; 20 % presented an average of the entrance examination between 70 and 79 points and 75 % obtained university results below 4. School repetition, bad study habits and demotivation for the major were significant factors.Conclusions: the factors associated with school desertion that took place in this student population were identified.</p

Attitude toward Morphophysiology and its impact on academic results

Background: the academic results of Morphophysiology I, at the time of the research, had a decrease regarding previous academic years.Objectives: to describe aspects of the students’ attitude toward Morphophysiology I and its probable relation to the academic performance of 1st-year-medical students of "Romárico Oro" Teaching Polyclinic of Puerto Padre, during the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016.Methods: a descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study was carried out with the students herein mentioned for a total of 94. The students were given an anonymous questionnaire, the graduation records were checked and the documents of subject staff were inspected. For data processing descriptive statistics was used.Results: 56,4 % of the students showed a low performance. 50 % of them said to have a regular attitude toward the subject, while 42,6 % of high-performance students stated to have a high attitude. 52,3 % of low-performance students showed dislike for the subject and 53,2 % did not anticipate the difficulties. 40,4% of the students showed the greatest preference for the subject Family Medicine.Conclusions: Low-performance students prevailed what could be related to the attitude toward the subject

Academic performance in Molecular Biology during the implementation of the curricular plan D at the Affiliated College of Medical Sciences of Puerto Padre

Background: the implementation of the plan D in the medical curriculum led to the emergence of the discipline of Biological Bases of Medicine which includes the subject of Molecular Biology.Objective: to describe the results of the academic achievement of the medical students in the subject of Molecular Biology at the Affiliated College of Medical Sciences of Puerto Padre, Las Tunas, during the academic years 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.Methods: a longitudinal descriptive study was carried out at the aforementioned institution and during the three academic years herein declared. The study population was made up of 294 first-year students who took the exam in the first call. Descriptive statistics was used to process the data.Results: the academic achievement discreetly increased per assessed academic year, 85,3 % in 2016-2017, 85,71 % in 2017-2018 and 87,3 % in 2018-2019. The quality of the academic achievement was lower in the first academic year, 38,9 %, reaching 54,2 % and 52,9 % in the following years. The main difficulties of the subject were centered in the topics: Multicellular organisms, Enzyme kinetics and Molecular genetics. There was a prevalence of pupils who failed the exam living in distant places and traveling daily. The students preferred other subjects.Conclusions: the results of the academic performance in the subject of Molecular Biology were described, during the three academic years in which the plan D of the curriculum was implemented