F. Rabbani, F.F. Fikree, J.B Mc Cormick, S.P. Luby, D.Marsh and N. Rizvi

Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi.

Introduction: While numerous programs for classroom teaching of epidemiology have been developed and published, many aspects of community based research can only be learned by doing research in the community. The teaching process at Community Health Sciences Department, the Aga Khan University employs community based teaching for Public Health. Here we report a field exercise conducted by first year medical students as part of their course on "community-assessment."

Field survey's objective was to train the students in sound survey methodology and data collection. The students conducted a survey at Garden, a locality of Karachi. To assess the health conditions of the community, they collected data on socio-demographic characteristics, morbidity/mortality, health seeking behaviour, expenditure on health and identified the nature and type of services expected from a family medicine service.

Methods: A geographically-based cross sectional survey was conducted by 80 medical students between January-February 1994. The skills learned included, obtaining the area map, determination of catchment area, estimating the sample size, designing of a questionnaire and random sampling with identification of starting points proportional to population density. Data entry, analysis and its presentation using computer packages was also taught.

Results: End of the course evaluation by the 80 students showed that the majority (90%) found this field exercise a very interesting learning experience. Nearly all the students (98%) reported that the practical application of theory couldn't be understood without the application of the field component. The students (88%) also commented that given the opportunity again, they would like to have a similar field experience. Their grades in the final examination also reflected a good grasp of theoretical concepts.

Discussion: The major strength of this survey was the involvement of the university outside its walls using research as a method of achieving educational and health system objectives. The students learned epidemiological concepts from a supervised research design and the data generated is being used to implement a family medicine service in the community.

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