Effect of Saturday Vacation on Academic Performance of 5th & 6th Year Medical Students,university of Khartoum 2008

Abstract

This research studies the application of Saturday as weekend vacation as well as Friday and its effect on the students, it's descriptive community based study. The sample was taken from 5th and 6th year medical students in the University of Khartoum. Structured questionnaires was filled by 320 students taken by total coverage of the students available during data collection. 54% of them agreed with the vacation, 24% disagreed with them, 15% thought it's better to change the day and 7% couldn't prove now. the average hours of studying increased for 31% of the participants, and decreased for 47% percent and consistent for 22%. 77% said these changes have relation to vacation changes. It was physically of positive effect for 46% and socially positive for 41% and this is in line with the studies of the cabinet. The opinions and effects were better for 6th year student compared with 5th year student because of the decrease in the hours of studying expected as the timetable is not suitable for 92% of participants especially 5th year students. This study recommends the continuation with the vacation but with better ways of compensation, generally by increasing the effectiveness of the working hours more than quantity of them, raising the values of work and introduce monitoring methods and supervision with clear goals. For the collage; revising the timetable for better compensation by putting the lectures in suitable time for students and doctors or increasing the year length for better academic performance.