A Correlational Study on Medical Parasitology Practical Work and Students’ Achievement on Parasitology Materials on the Final Exam

Background and aims: Parasitology practical work is expected to strengthen the retention of parasitology materials for medical students in block of adult problems. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between the laboratory assessment and the achievement of parasitology materials on final exam in block of adult problems. Methods: This is a cross sectional study using secondary data of some classes of medical students in block of adult problems, which comply with the inclusion criteria. The data were divided into laboratory assessment score and achievement of parasitology materials on block of adult problems in the final exam. The achievement of parasitology materials on final exam was counted from the average true answer for all questions, divided by all parasitology questions. The data were analyzed for the normality and median value. A descriptive analysis, Spearman correlations test, was performed to find out the correlation between laboratory assessment and parasitology materials in block of adult problems. Results: The data of laboratory assessment score and achievement of parasitology materials which fulfill the criteria were on 2015’s and 2017’s class. The median score of both data on each class were (75.75; 71.43) and (61.75; 50) with normality test score of p > 0.05. The median score of practical work on 2015’s was higher than that of 2017’s class. The Spearman rank test between the 2 parameter on 2017’s and 2015’s class showed that the laboratory assessment and achievement of parasitology materials in final exam were not related (p≥0.05). Conclusions and Recommendation: There was no correlation between the laboratory assessment and the achievement of parasitology materials on the final exam in block of adult problems. Thus, it is necessary to improve students’ achievement on parasitology materials was. Some factors to influence the retention of students’ knowledge on parasitology should be evaluated as the basis to improve the learning methods.