The residents were asked to state factors that could promote research. Most of them (66%) admitted that guidance from senior faculty was essential. Forty-six percent thought that reduction of working hours ARQ197 of residency could lead to more research involvement and 40% felt that financial assistance would help to promote research. Forty-four percent considered that a system of extra credit points for research-related presentations and publications would be helpful. DISCUSSION Postgraduate students are introduced to the concept of designing and conducting research during residency. Medical research carried out by undergraduate and postgraduate students in India is disappointing compared to developed countries. To date research has not become a mandatory part of the curriculum of undergraduate medical education in India.

In Germany, where research is an integral part of undergraduate medical curriculum; medical students were involved in 28% of the publications in a particular institution.[11] A study reported that in a European country, Croatia, 23% of the undergraduate students were involved in research projects.[12] We carried out this study to assess the awareness of residents toward research and to find out whether the current methods of training and facilities are adequate to foster a research culture in postgraduate students. This study showed various key findings that would be of interest to medical educators and policy makers. It was found that knowledge about the need and prerequisites of research was fairly good among resident doctors.

Furthermore, they also showed a positive attitude toward medical research. However, there was disparity found with regard to their attitude toward medical research and actual participation. Although a majority of the postgraduate medical residents wished to get involved in research, very few had Drug_discovery participated in research work, other than the mandatory dissertation project. Moreover, very few had presented research papers at conferences or had publications. Discrepancy between attitude and practice was also highlighted in a study done in Faisalabad, in India. Although a large majority of postgraduate trainees of the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad appreciated the importance of reading current literature, only a few actually read journals and were actively involved in presenting research papers and making scientific contributions to the literature.[13] Similar selleckchem Brefeldin A results were obtained in a study done in Madison, in USA. Out of 143 postgraduate students, 85% felt that research experience was desirable, 48% were interested in pursuing research during residency, and only 8% were active in research.