Journal Article

Medical education in a foreign language and history-taking in the native language in Lebanon – a nationwide survey

Jammal, Mouin, Aoun Bahous, Sola, Korjian, Serge, Raad, Kareem, Daaboul, Yazan, Abi Raad, Vanda, Asmar, Nadia

2016

Overview

Background With the adoption of the English language in medical education, a gap in clinical communication may develop in countries where the native language is different from the language of medical education. This study investigates the association between medical education in a foreign language and students’ confidence in their history-taking skills in their native language. Methods This cross-sectional study consisted of a 17-question survey among medical students in clinical clerkships of Lebanese medical schools. The relationship between the language of medical education and confidence in conducting a medical history in Arabic (the native language) was evaluated ( n  = 457). Results The majority (88.5%) of students whose native language was Arabic were confident they could conduct a medical history in Arabic. Among participants enrolled in the first clinical year, high confidence in Arabic history-taking was independently associated with Arabic being the native language and with conducting medical history in Arabic either in the pre-clinical years or during extracurricular activities. Among students in their second clinical year, however, these factors were not associated with confidence levels. Conclusions Despite having their medical education in a foreign language, the majority of students in Lebanese medical schools are confident in conducting a medical history in their native language.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Approaches to teaching and learning / Bilingualism / Clinical Clerkship / Communication Skills / Comprehension / Cross-Sectional Studies / Education / Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Educational aspects / Female / Health education / History-taking / Hospitals / Humans / Language barriers / Language of Instruction / Lebanon / Likert Scales / Male / Maximum Likelihood Statistics / Medical Education / Medical History Taking / Medical Schools / Medical Students / Methods / Multilingualism / Native Language / Official Languages / Online Surveys / Oral Language / Regression (Statistics) / Research Article / Schools, Medical / Second Languages / Self-reported confidence level / Semitic Languages / Statistical Analysis / Students, Medical - psychology / Survey / Surveys / Surveys and Questionnaires / Teaching Methods / Theory of Medicine/Bioethics / Western World