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Abstract Background Medical students have faced an enormous disruption to their lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on medical student’s psychological well-being in Pakistan. Following ethical approval, an online survey developed in collaboration with World Psychiatric Association (WPA) was distributed among medical students of 5 Medical colleges in the Punjab province of Pakistan between August and September 2020. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), and Risk Assessment Suicidality Scale (RASS) were used to assess psychological well-being. Data was analyzed using SPSS 26.0. Results Eleven hundred medical students responded, 756 (69%) being females. More than 2/3rd admitted that their emotional state got worse in relation to appearance of anxiety, insecurity, and sadness, compared to before the outbreak of COVID-19. Prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms were 48.6% and 48.1%, respectively. Female medical students, pre-clinical students, and those with a previous psychiatric history reported experiencing more anxiety and depression symptoms (P value

BACKGROUND: Modern medical education has flourished with an emergent interest in a variety of assessment approaches that entails direct observation of performance and provision of feedback. Workplace-based assessment (WPBA) has been embraced into specialty training in the United Kingdom (UK) within National Health Service (NHS). In Pakistan, this educational framework is incorporated to gauge the clinical proficiency of trainees at the postgraduate and undergraduate levels. The present study was done to identify how WPBA is perceived by dental field postgraduate trainees in Pakistan. OBJECTIVE: The study explored and ascertained trainees' perceptions, attitudes, and preferences considering their experiences with the systematic organization and execution of WPBA in dental educational settings. METHODS: This cross-sectional study design involved the clinical trainees of various cadres in a tertiary care hospital in Multan. A structured and validated questionnaire previously used for another analysis was administered among 90 trainees at the institute. The results were analyzed and tabulated using SPSS-21. Influential statistics (Pearson's Chi-Square Test) was performed and the confidence interval was set at 95% (P≤0.05). RESULTS: The response rate was 88%. Opinions were more positive compared to the former surveys. The majority of the respondents (65.8%) have shown a positive attitude towards WPBA and preferred it to be a valuable assessment system as it fosters reflective practices in educational settings. In addition, it was shown that WPBA has the potential to improve clinical training (72.2%) and aid in the effective implementation of clinical practice (68.4%). As the system of digital education has been introduced ever since the pandemic, the highest percentage of participants (56%) preferred a combination of on-paper and online assessment systems. CONCLUSION: The study reported that WPBA proposes the opportunity to associate teaching, learning, and assessment. The faculty training program is a significant input to upholding the quality of WPBA. Empirical research on WPBA is essential to be carried out to overcome the inadequacies thus endorsing its application universally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite calls for the much-needed involvement of physicians in leadership, very few medical colleges in Pakistan provide explicit training on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to be an effective physician leader. Objective: To explore Pakistani medical students' perceptions, attitudes, and interests regarding Leadership training in medical education. Methods: Participants were asked about their perceptions and attitudes towards medical leadership on a 5- point Likert scale. Students also self-rated their leadership competencies noted as per Medical Leadership Competency Framework. Survey also assessed the perceived need and topics for a leadership curriculum for physician leaders, the teaching format, and barriers to leadership training in medical schools. Data was analyzed using SPSS 26. Results: About 60.6% of the total 1204 respondents rated their leadership training in medical college as "very poor" or "poor" and 80.3% of them endorsed their interest and need for it. 77.4% of the participants agreed that clinicians should influence leadership decisions in a clinical setting. Only 25% of respondents were aware of the demands of a leadership rank in medicine. Leadership competencies endorsed for training included problem-solving, leading a team, confronting problematic employees, and communication skills with a multimodal teaching approach, including teaching methods like small group discussions. The main barriers to leadership training were identified as time constraints (66.1%), lack of available curriculum (69.0%), and disinterest by faculty (67.0%). Conclusion: Our study suggests that medical students in Pakistan appreciate the importance of leadership training in undergraduate education. There is a need for dedicated leadership teaching and study data to specify the possible content and delivery methods to serve as goals for an undergraduate leadership curriculum in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stressful situations are often linked with poor health and lifestyle behaviors (e.g., unhealthy diet, limited physical activity, poor sleep quality etc.). Subsequent to the nationwide lockdown in Pakistan due to COVID-19 pandemic, medical students experienced substantial lifestyle changes along with academic stresses. The goal of this study was to measure the impact that the COVID-19 lockdown had on lifestyle like sleep, physical activity and nutrition, substance abuse, dealing with finances, spirituality and family life, with respect to a sample of Pakistani medical students. Methods: This cross- sectional online study involving 1100 medical students (68.7% females) from five medical colleges in Pakistan, used self-administered questionnaire to evaluate the impact of pandemic related restrictions on lifestyle of medical students in Pakistan from August- September 2020. Parameters such as physical activity, sleep, nutrition, smoking and substance abuse, family life, finances, internet use and spirituality were studied. Results: Fifty-nine percent of medical students reported a significant effect of lockdown on their physical activity. Only 5.8% people clearly followed or adhered to a routine during the pandemic. About 54.6% students have found that physical activity and exercise significantly reduced their anxiety. More than half of respondents reported increase in screen time, weight gain and poor sleep with 3.1% of students stating an increased use of sleeping pills to fall asleep Another 18.3% students had an increased worry regarding COVID19 based on the information they received on internet. No significant increase in substance uses and alcohol use or family conflicts among students post pandemic was noted. Conclusion: Our findings underscore that COVID-19 pandemic has led to undesired changes in health and lifestyle habits of medical students, which may, to some extent, be responsible for higher negative impact. Hence it is important for medical colleges to start awareness campaigns to tackle challenges for medical students physical and emotional well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical rotations were cancelled during the start of the pandemic due to concerns about the students and their families contracting the virus and also for the protection of the vulnerable patients in hospitals. Covid-19 causes an unprecedented interruption to all students, however with courses such as Medicine, whereby a practical element is crucial, the adaptation to deliver the course effectively is more of a challenge. Summary Since the start of January 2019, COVID-19 has caused unparalleled disruption to all aspects of life globally, including the delivery of medical education. [Extracted from the article]

Since the start of January 2019, COVID-19 has caused unparalleled disruption to all aspects of life globally, including the delivery of medical education. Each university and institution have a different approach on how medicine, as a course, is taught and delivered, however, generally there is a consensus that in the earlier years, more emphasis should be given to the acquisition of theoretical and scientific knowledge, including anatomy and physiology. In the later years, medical students are then expected to apply their theoretical knowledge in a practical setting by attending various placements and interacting with patients and other healthcare professionals. The duality of this approach results in doctors who are both competent in their knowledge of the basic sciences whilst being good clinicians with sound practical and inter-personal skills. Covid-19 causes an unprecedented interruption to all students, however with courses such as Medicine, whereby a practical element is crucial, the adaptation to deliver the course effectively is more of a challenge. Clinical rotations were cancelled during the start of the pandemic due to concerns about the students and their families contracting the virus and also for the protection of the vulnerable patients in hospitals. In this manuscript we have explored the adaptations made in order to deliver medical education and evaluate the effectiveness of these methods. We will also be discussing the implications and limitations of these methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify the gaps in knowledge of medical ethics among undergraduates. Study Design: An observational cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at CMH Lahore medical College, from Aug 2017 to Mar 2018. Methodology: Students from 3rd to 5th year MBBS were included in this study. Sample size calculated was 272, non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used. To collect the data, a 25 item questionnaire was developed following An International Association for Medical Education (AMEE) guide line number 87. Five point likert scale was used as well as categorical yes/no questions were asked to assess the responses. Results: Data were collected from 3rd year to 5th year MBBS undergraduates. Response rate was 82.72%. There was almost equal gender distribution; 51.1 % were male and 48.9% were female. Most of the respondents, 95.6% and 95.1% were of the view that medical ethics are important and should be taught at undergraduate level respectively. Majority 72.4% said Hippocrates declaration oath was not taught adequately. Only 42% and 46% were aware of medical ethics regarding publication and organ transplant respectively. Total score was calculated which showed that knowledge of medical ethics was highest among 3rd year and lowest among 4th year medical students. Conclusion: Important ethical issues are being neglected in our current curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical ethics is a core issue for all specialties and is encompassed in professionalism. It is a presumption that not dealt appropriately in the undergraduate teaching curriculum. There is a paucity of awareness lectures and seminar workshops in teaching setups for medical ethics for undergraduates in developing countries. The current policy of PMDC does not provide a centralized curriculum for teaching of medical ethics in medical colleges, which results in lack of logical ethical reasoning among students. There is a need to develop a medical ethics curriculum taught by medical ethics department in every medical college in collaboration with the clinicians with real life case scenarios. Students should be evaluated through examinations at the end of every year with fixed hours dedicated to the teaching of the curriculum. Only, through these measures patient satisfaction will improve and medicine can achieve its lost glory and nobility in our part of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertension is a multifactorial chronic disease and a silent cause of high causalities around the globe. Both hyper and pre-hypertension affect all ages and professions, and are as common as flu infections by affecting 1 in every 5 persons. In order to determine frequency of hypertension and pre-hypertension among medical students and their association with various variable and fixed risk factors, this study was designed. The cross sectional study of 4 months was carried out on the students of Shalamar Medical and Dental College. Students were aged from 18-25 years and a sample of 100 students was enrolled by stratified random sampling after written consent. We recorded blood pressure at three different time points, one minute apart in sitting position after ten minutes of rest. The average of three measurements was considered as final reading. Data regarding related variables was entered and analysed using SPSS version 21. Out of 100 (43 males and 57 females), three students were hypertensive, 55 pre-hypertensive and 42 normotensive; among pre-hypertensive female students were more in number as compared to male students. Mean age was 21.6 years with increased frequency of pre hypertensive and hypertensive individuals in the first, second and final year class. A total of 64% pre-obese subjects were pre-hypertensive or hypertensive and 75% obese were also pre hypertensive or hypertensive. Frequency of intake of fast/junk food was higher among pre-hypertensive and hypertensive individual than normotensive and same among both genders. Median value of average sleep (hours) among pre-hypertensive subjects was lesser than of hypertensive subjects. Students expressed their concerns related to college timings and hectic routine and increased frequency of teaching sessions including assessments. Frequency of pre-hypertension was higher in the students especially in the first, second and final years of graduation (MBBS). Pre-hypertensive and hypertensive students were pre-obese or obese and had positive family history of hypertension, consumed fast/junk food in both genders. College timing and intensive routines were primary cause of irritation and aggression, which may result in hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]