The present cross-sectional study was conducted at Melaka Manipal Medical College (MMMC), Manipal Campus and School of Allied Health Sciences (SOAHS), MAHE, during January-February 2018. All first-year undergraduate medical (n=155), as well as allied health science students (n=148) who were willing to participate in the study, were included as study participants. Among the medical students who were from Malaysia and Sri Lanka, 58 of them were males and 97 were females. The allied health science student group included 65 males and 83 female students and all of them were from an urban background. The present study received Institutional Ethics Committee approval (IEC 933/2017).

Data regarding time management skills were collected from students by means of the TMQ [15] after taking their informed consent. The reported reliability of TMQ was found to be in the acceptable range (Cronbach’s alpha=0.87). This questionnaire had 27 items grouped into three domains: Time Planning (TP; 16 items), Time Attitude (TA; 7 items) and Time Wasters (TW; 4 items). Time planning domain had items indicating the behaviour of a person including: a) planning and undertaking responsibilities within a short period of time like within a day or a week (short-range planning); and b) following systematic schedules in order to achieve long-term objectives, like for the entire semester (long-range planning). Time attitude is a person’s belief that he or she can manage time constructively and has complete control over time. Time wasters included items that reflected a person’s engagement with unproductive tasks. Students were requested to respond to this questionnaire on a 5-point Likert’s scale (5=always; 4=frequently; 3=sometimes; 2=infrequently; 1=never). Items TA6, TA7, TW1, TW2, TW3 and TW4 were negatively worded and therefore were scored in the reverse order.

The mean scores of all items, as well as the domains, were compared between medical and allied health science students using independent sample t-test. Items with mean score value above 3.5 was considered to be indicative of very good time management skills, values between 3 and 3.5 were considered to be moderate and below 3 were considered to be reflecting poor time management skills, after reaching a consensus between all authors of this article. SPSS version 16.0 was used for all statistical analyses.

Analysis of the data revealed that there was no statistical difference between the TMS of both groups (MMMC:3.2 (0.51); SOAHS: 3.2 (0.39), p=0.9) as shown in [Table/Fig-1,2], shows comparison of mean score value of domains between the groups indicated similar and statistically insignificant values for time planning and time attitude domains for both groups (MMMC: TP=3.1 (0.38), SOAHS: TP=3.1 (0.35), p=0.54; MMMC: TA=3.2 (0.37), SOAHS: TA=3.1 (0.56), p=0.76) whereas, a high but statistically insignificant score for time wasters for SOAHS students compared to MMMC students (MMMC: TW=3.2 (0.57), SOAHS: TW=3.6 (0.88), p-value >0.52). In [Table/Fig-3], among the total items, ten for SOAHS and nine items for MMMC showed a mean score value below 3, out of which five items were common for both groups (TP3, TP4, TA2, TA6, TW4). Eleven items from SOAHS and 12 items from MMMC showed a mean score between 3 and 3.5, out of which four items were common for both groups (TP10, TP14, TA1, TW1). Among the six items from SOAHS and seven items from MMMC whose mean score value was above 3.5, five items were common for both sample groups (TP9, TP15, TA3, TA5, TW3).

Health science students should be trained to develop multiple life-long learning skills which are crucial for them to balance their personal and professional life in the future. Even though educators have emphasised the significant role of making students aware of the importance of time management and training them in this skill in their undergraduate years itself, there is little evidence at least in medical education research to support this notion [16]. The present study investigated the time management skills of first-year undergraduate medical and allied health science students using a questionnaire survey. The mean score values of the items, as well as domains in the questionnaire, indicated that the time management skills of both groups of students were moderate and were more or less similar. This is in line with the findings of Karakose T, who reported that first-year medical students had moderate time management skills [17]. In the present study, allied health science students compared to medical students seemed to indulge in unproductive tasks which resulted in wastage of time more frequently. The tightly packed academic schedule of medical students would have left them with lesser scope for time wasting compared to allied health science students. Both groups of students seemed to possess a few skills that were indicative as ’very good’, including identification and keeping aside of tasks that were most demanding (TP9) as well as prioritisation of tasks (TP15) more frequently. Furthermore, students seemed to be in control of time (TA3) and were able to make trivial decisions in a short period of time (TA5) very often. Both groups seemed to indulge in unproductive activities like too much smoking (TW3). The tightly packed academic schedule of medical students would have demanded them to set goals and deadlines (TP11, TP 8) for the entire block a bit more efficiently and to have less engagement in unprofitable activities on working days (TW2) compared to allied health science students. Both groups did not seem to regularly practice noting down important dates pertaining to their academic schedule on a single calendar (TP 10) or work on incomplete tasks in free time (TP 14).

Allied health science students seemed to plan their day ahead (TP 1), make a schedule of activities for a day (TP6) which reflected their short-term time planning behaviours, compared to medical students, who were found to have their goals set at the beginning of the block itself, and have a clear idea of the tasks lying ahead of a week which reflected their long-term time planning behaviours. Medical students seemed to engage in learning somewhat regularly by reviewing class notes (TP 13) and seemed to be more academically engaged throughout (TA 7), compared to allied health science students. However, both groups seemed not to work on assignments at the last minute, which is a positive factor. It was quite disappointing to note the lack of awareness regarding the need for improvement in their time management skills (TA2).

A study conducted by Mahasneh AM et al., using the TMQ reported low-time management skills among university students at Hashemite University, Jordan [18]. In a report by Britton BK and Tesser A, they found that undergraduate university students felt time management as their most pertinent academic problem [12]. Alshaya HM et al., reported that more than half of the participants (54%) in a study conducted among medical students in Saudi Arabia had inadequate TMS [19]. In a study by Covic T et al., health science students were found to have inadequate practices pertaining to mechanics of time management [1]. The findings from the present study point out those medical students have slightly better long-term time planning behaviours compared to allied health science students. Early identification of the issues related to time management and appropriate interventions intended to foster various dimensions of time management would direct towards better educational training for students.

The small sample size seems to be a major limitation which undermines the generalisability of findings of the present study. Additionally, the validity of the findings could have been improved by triangulation of data by adopting qualitative approaches such as focus group discussions and interviews.

The findings from the present study suggested that the TMS of first-year medical as well as allied health science students were moderate and were almost similar. Students seemed to be well placed only on a few time management dimensions whilst for the majority, there appeared to be room for improvement, which they themselves did not seem to realise. This showed that faculty at both institutions have a great responsibility towards creating awareness on effective time management skills among students.