Under the auspices of Prof. Einas bint Suleiman Al-Eisa, the Rector of Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University represented by the Deanship of the Foundation Year, conducted the Second Scientific Medical Debate Contest on Thursday, 01/04/1441 AH, at the auditorium of College of Dentistry.
The debate aimed to develop the basic skills of new students, which in turn qualify them to succeed in the university environment such as teamwork, effective communication and critical thinking. In addition to stimulating the skills of students in scientific research in terms of collecting scientific information and ways to summarize and formulate it. Furthermore, it aimed to enhance their capacity to defend their views objectively, along with the effective strategies in solving general medical problems and promoting the concept of comprehensive methodology in health care, while respecting roles in a multidisciplinary environment.
In the first part of the contest, the students started to present a visual presentation of the medical topic under discussion to the group, and in the second part, a debate was initiated among the students on the subject matter. The presentations and discussions were presented to five members of the refereeing committee nominated from the five medical colleges at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing, College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, and College of Applied Medical Sciences) to be finally evaluated on the presentation and scientific debate in accordance with certain adopted standards.
It is noteworthy that the topics raised by students of the Foundation Year of medical colleges are specific in the field of medical and related to medical needs inside and outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and controversial questions in the medical scientific arena such as: Should vaccinations be optional? Using animals in scientific experiments, the extent of connection between video games and obesity, genetically modified foods, their benefits and harms, is the decision not to resuscitate the patient made by doctors? Should plastic surgeries be free in the governmental hospitals? How useful are the organic foods?
After conducting several rounds, the contest was concluded by honoring the participating students in the contest who attained the first three positions in the areas of presentation and scientific debate. As a group of students achieved the first position in the field of "vaccinations", two groups of students achieved the first one in the subject of "video games do not cause obesity. While the second group in the subject of "are the genetically modified foods useful?" finally, the third position was held by two groups of students, the first group in the subject of "video games cause obesity" and the second one in the subject of "Are organic foods useful?"
This contest is part of several scientific contests supported by the Deanship of the Foundation Year in order to achieve the objectives of the University in line with the Vision 2030 to reach excellence and quality, and raise the efficiency of performance in the teaching and learning system.
