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Background: Diverse factors influence the career choice of medical students. This study was carried out to identify career preferences and factors influencing specialty selection among undergraduate medical students of Gujranwala Medical College which has students from multiple cities including Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad to name a few. Hence this study will be valuable for the medical education sector because understanding career uncertainty at Gujranwala Medical College will also provide ways of developing better tools and counseling programs to help medical students throughout Pakistan prepare for their future. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among students of Gujranwala medical college. As the sample size for this study was not too large and the targeted audience had close physical proximity, a structured paper questionnaire was used containing multiple-choice questions, dichotomous questions as well as scaling questions with content ranging from their career preferences after MBBS to assessing possible factors that may have influenced their choice of specialty. All information gathered was on a volunteer basis. Anonymity and confidentiality were maintained. The study was approved by the college ethical review committee. A pilot study was done on 20 participants and no discrepancies were found. Results: Out of 218 students, 85 (36%) were male and 133 (61%) were female. Out of the 85 male students, 74 students were undecided about career preference. Out of the 133 female students, 94 students were undecided about career preference. Regarding factors influencing career choice, year/level of study was proven to have a significant association with career choice (p value-value: 0.001). 2nd Year students reported the highest uncertainty (89%), 4th Year students reported the second-highest uncertainty (85%), 5th Year students reported the lowest uncertainty (51%). Career uncertainty also had a significant association with how often students thought about changing their career (p-value: 0.002). The ones who often or always thought about changing careers reported the highest uncertainty (100%), while the ones who never thought about changing careers reported the lowest uncertainty (57%). Conclusion: Study The study has shown that a significant number of medical students are uncertain about their career intentions. Year of study, gender, and general satisfaction with the medical field was proven to be major factors in causing such uncertainty about career choice after MBBS. Final year students were most certain about career intentions along with those who never thought about changing careers. While results were consistent with several national and international studies, variability in said results across different studies was also noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Past research demonstrated a link between homelessness and the increased risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, ways to reduce young people's risk of homelessness and sexual health risks have not been adequately addressed. This paper, based on the first detailed sociological exploration into the lived experiences of homeless young people, argues for the adoption of a holistic and integrated approach to health promotion that goes beyond the health sector. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-nine homeless young people, aged 16-25-year-old, from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Results: A combination of socio-structural and interpersonal forces shaped participants' pathways to homelessness and their experiences of street life -- notably regarding sex work -- and produce contexts of competing risks where HIV/STIs prevention became a secondary concern. Participants had a reasonable knowledge regarding nature, transmission, prevention, and to some extent, treatment of HIV/STIs. Nevertheless, this knowledge did not help them much, as most of the participants used condoms inconsistently with clients and intimate partners. Financial considerations, fear of violence from clients, and social obligations in intimate partnerships contributed to participants inconsistent condom use, increasing their risk of HIV/STIs. Conclusion: The results indicate the importance of the Ottawa Charter of health promotion, which suggests that conventional health promotion approaches are potentially suboptimal in shaping health behaviours supportive of good health. Notably, building healthy public policies, creating supportive environments, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services can help to improve young people's socioeconomic status, which is inextricably linked with sexual health behaviour and status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dengue is the most widely distributed mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. It continues to spread rapidly because of climate change, rapid urbanization, and population growth. In the world population ranking Pakistan stands at number 6th position, having subtropical position. Due to growing cases, this study is undertaken to evaluate the perception of Dengue fever among the university students. Engagement of students and community to improve participation and mobilization for vector control is a key element to regulate the control interventions and strategies. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at National University of Medical Sciences Rawalpindi during July-Nov 2022 including 346 participants. Online survey was conducted using close ended structured questionnaire by using nonprobability convenience method. The age, gender, living status, accommodation status, and residential area of the students together with perceptions of undergraduate students regarding Dengue’s knowledge and prevention was recorded. Based on students’ correct answers, overall knowledge level assessment and prevention awareness level was calculated. Association of categorical variables were analysed using chi-square test. Statistical data analysis was carried out using commercially available software. Results: Out of 346 students, 58.6% had knowledge of dengue and 84.9% were aware about its prevention. The multi-variate analyses revealed that positive relationship exists between Dengue’s knowledge with age, gender, and residential area and between Dengue’s prevention awareness with age and gender (p<0.05). Conclusion: The overall knowledge and awareness of students regarding Dengue fever was found to be adequate, being higher among male than female students. The collaborative effort by all stakeholders can contribute towards enhancing the knowledge and awareness among students which will further reduce the risk of disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The primary cause of mortality, cancer, is predicted to rise 1.7 times in 2040 compared to 2018. Immunotherapies have transformed cancer treatment for advanced malignancies. Due to inadequate information, there are well-documented hurdles to getting cancer immunotherapies, increasing the disease's burden. This study aims to develop a One-Window Services Model (OWSM) for gaining access to cancer immunotherapies. Methods: This was a sequential explanatory mixed-method study. The quantitative part used interviewer-administered questionnaires including data on knowledge and attitude in conveniently selected 20 cancer patients, and data were analyzed through SPSS. The qualitative part used an open-ended questionnaire for In-depth interviews (IDIs) along with the results of the quantitative part in purposively selected seven tumor panel physicians (TPP) and analyzed by grounded theory. The study was conducted in a specialized tertiary care bone marrow hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Results: The findings of the quantitative part presented that 80% of cancer patients had poor knowledge about processes, and 90% had a positive attitude towards their cancer immunotherapies. The findings of the qualitative part presented additional evidence that explained some unclear issues and expanded the results of quantitative data, which were presented as a broader theme “tools for OWSM” through IDI and followed by development of ten steps of OWSM. Conclusion: The sequential explanatory mixed method was considered appropriate for developing the ten steps of OWSM since it involved knowledge and attitude as integral parts of behavior change of patients based on Andersen’s theoretical framework of health service use and the advice of experts. Moreover, the model will be tested in an experimental effectiveness trial planned in next phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Determination of an individual's HCV genotypes prior to antiviral therapy has become increasingly important for the deciding clinical management and predicting prognosis of HCV infection. Relative genotype proportions are needed to inform to healthcare models, which should be geographically tailored. To our knowledge, there are no studies reporting genotype pattern in Rawalpindi/Islamabad region. We aimed to determine the frequency of different genotypes in HCV positive cases in the population of Rawalpindi/Islamabad over the period of five years. Methods: Data of total of three thousand eight hundred and eighteen (n=3818) HCV positive adult of both genders were screened for genotype testing over the period of six years were analyzed. Results: Most frequent genotype identified in our study was genotype 3, accounting for 95.8% (n=3657) of HCV positive cases. The second most common genotype was Type 1 accounting for 2.9% (n=109) of HCV positive cases. Other genotypes were Type 2 (0.3%, n=12) and Type 4 (0.1%, n=5). Mixed genotype (Type 1 and 3) were detected in almost 1 % (n=35) of cases. We did not find genotype 5 and 6 in our study sample. No significant difference was observed among males and females in genotype distribution (P>0.05). Conclusion: The most common genotype among HCV patients were found to be genotype 3 followed by genotype 1 as the second most common in Rawalpindi/Islamabad region during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]