Attitudes of Students towards the Profession of Medical Laboratory Science in Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria

Aim: To look into the attitudes of Medical Laboratory Science students towards the profession of Medical Laboratory Sciences (Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science) in Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDU), Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria.

Study Design: This is a cross-sectional study designed to address the attitudes of Medical Laboratory Science students towards the profession of medical laboratory science; before and after admission.

Place and Duration of Study: Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, North-Western of Nigeria, between January and April, 2016.

Methodology: A structured self-administered questionnaire was designed and distributed for this purpose. After explaining to the students, the research objectives, how to fill the questionnaire's different components and questions, a self-administered 15-item questionnaire was distributed to them for completion. Five Hundred and Six (506) questionnaires were distributed to the students (from 100 level to 500 level), but only Four Hundred and Eighty-Three (483) were returned completed.

Results: Of the 483 students participated in this study; 331(68.5%) were male and 152(31.5%) were female. About 218(45.1%) students initially (before admission) applied for Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Sciences (BMLS), 210(43.5%) applied for Medicine and Surgery (MBBS), while 24(5.0%) applied for Pharmacy and the remaining 31(6.4%) students applied for the other courses.

Conclusion: Although, This study indicates that, almost half of the Medical Laboratory Science students surveyed in the Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences of Usmanu Danfodiyo University initially (before admission) applied for medical laboratory science as their future career, many of the students considered Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) as their future career, because they wanted to be involved in patient care. This may due to lack of awareness to the profession of Medical Laboratory Sciences.