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OBJECTIVE: To identify the topics difficult to understand in learning Anatomy and to investigate the reasons of difficulty and their possible solutions. METHODS: This descriptive observational study was conducted at Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan from April to November 2019. Open ended and validated questionnaires were filled by 205 undergraduate medical students at the end of their academic year to ensure that complete course of anatomy including gross anatomy, histology and embryology were covered by students. Students were asked to specify the problem area, the subtopics, give the reasons for topics being difficult and mention possible solutions they think will help them in better understanding of these difficult areas. The problems having 5 or less number of responses were not included in the analysis. RESULTS: Embryology, histology & neuroanatomy were perceived as the most difficult areas by 89%, 62% & 61% of students respectively. Constraint of time (41% for gross anatomy & 26% for embryology), high difficulty level (35% for embryology & 29% for gross anatomy) and difficulty in differentiation of slides (34% for histology) were the main reasons for problems in understanding the topics. Use of more 3-D aids (61%) & revision classes along with written tests (39%) were commonest possible solutions for perceived difficulties by students. CONCLUSION: Embryology has been perceived as the most difficult topic of anatomy by the students of second year MBBS followed by gross anatomy and Histology. Time constrain was suggested as main reason and Use of 3-D aids as main solution for difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore perceptions of medical students and faculty, regarding challenges of e-learning they faced, during COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design: Mixed method study (Quantitative and Qualitative - Phenomenological approach). Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College Pakistan, from Apr 2020 to Sep 2020. Methodology: A self-made questionnaire, having both qualitative and quantitative elements, was developed after interviews of participants. It was pilot tested, finalized and sent via Google forms. Total 318 students and 6 faculty members responded, data was transcribed verbatim, themes were identified, and qualitative inductive content analysis of participants" reports was done. Results: Twenty-seven subthemes were identified by analyzing students" and faculty perceptions. They were grouped under five major themes, namely, communicational, technological, institutional, related to educators and students. Conclusion: Despite limiting factors like communication gap, digital refugee faculty teaching digital native students, limited technical support, digital divide and unplanned curricular delivery, e-learning was found to be beneficial in terms of flexibility in timings, improving learners" self-efficacy, faculty transformation and gradual acceptance. Moreover, it provided opportunity for hybrid e-curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the learning approaches of medical students in their pre-clinical years in a case based learning curriculum. Study Design: Descriptive (Quantitative) study. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan 2017 to Jul 2017. Materials and Methods: Two hundred students from 2nd year MBBS participated in the study by filling a 52 items questionnaire-Approach and study skills inventory for students. Students' scores were measured separately for surface, deep and strategic approaches. Gender difference regarding the preferred approach of students was also found out. Analysis was carried out by using student t-test on Microsoft Excel Sheet. Results: There is a significant difference (p-value <0.05) between the number of surface learners when compared with number of deep and strategic learners. A preference for the deep or strategic approaches has been noticed in both female and male students. Conclusion: The study provided evidence that even in very initial years of medical studies where case based learning has been introduced as a student-centered strategy, it is promoting a deep or strategic learning approach in medical students. These approaches have been considered helpful in making students lifelong learners. It also helps in identifying the surface learners at the same time. Their identification will help and guide teaching faculty and the curriculum planners about the scope of different teaching modalities to be used in the best interest of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To observe the association of total absenteeism and the CBL absenteeism among the undergraduate medical students. Study Design: A cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College and study was conducted in the month of June 2016. Material and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in the month of June 2016 among the Second MBBS course at the Army Medical College. Two hundred second year M.B.B.S. students were informed and invited to participate in the study. We gathered the information from the students on total number of CBL attended in the whole academic year, reason for missing Anatomy CBL, causes for absenteeism, annual total attendance percentage of the second year class, number of pass CBL sessions in second year. Suggestions for the improvement of the Anatomy CBL sessions were also recorded. Results: Out of 173 participants, there were 101 (58.4%) male and 72 (41.6%) female students with the mean age of 20.01 ± 0.69 years. There were 84 (48.6%) medical cadets, 12 (6.9%) paying cadets, 21 (12.1%) additional selected cadets, 46 (26.6%) NUMS cadets and 10 (5.8%) NUMS foreign cadets. Mean CBL attendance was 13.09 ± 1.87 with the range of 6-15. Mean attendance of classes other than CBL was 92.40 ± 6.55. The difference of CBL attendance between various categories of cadets was insignificant (p-value=0.18). Also, there was no effect of gender on the CBL attendance (p-value=0.10). Conclusion: Frequency of students with attendance in CBL sessions below 75% is significantly different than the frequency of students with attendance above 75%. This is an alarming finding as the cut off point for appearing in annual exam set by PMDC is 75% attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The teaching and learning of medical students has always been a demanding perspective. The best teachers at times may strive in conveying medical knowledge and assessing yield of the effort. The traditional written and practical instruments of assessment have many limitations in their practicality and fair judgment. Since its introduction in the 70s, objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has gained worldwide recognition and appreciation as a fair and standardized format to assess the clinical competencies of medical students and residents. It is an approach in which all the three aspects of clinical competence namely knowledge, skills, and attitude are evaluated in a comprehensive, consistent, and structured manner with close attention to the objectivity of the procedure. OSCE demands excellent communication, time management, and organizational skills. Not only the examiners but also the examinees have widely appreciated OSCE. Therefore, it should be recommended as a standard procedure for a student's evaluation. The aim of this paper was to review and recommend OSCE as a learning tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the personal reflection ability of first year medical students who self-selected different strategies for learning gross anatomy. Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College Rawalpindi from Mar 2016 to Apr 2016. Material and Methods: We described the purpose of the study (to assess students' ability for personal reflection) and called students of first year MBBS to participate in the study. Divided in two groups, Group A who selfselected the models for learning anatomy (response rate) and - of group B who self-selected the cadaveric specimens for learning anatomy. Those who agreed to participate signed an informed consent form and completed the questionnaires. The Groningen Reflection Ability Scale is a fully validated one-dimensional scale to measure personal reflection. It has 23 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Scores on the Groningen can range from 23 to 115, and persons with greater abilities for personal reflection have higher scores on the scale. Results: Total 60 male students opted for the modalities of anatomy models for learning gross anatomy. Their accumulative reflective score was 4853. While 28 female students opted for the anatomy models for learning gross anatomy with the accumulative score of 2328. Out of 168 students 88 preferred the gross anatomy models for learning. Total 14 male students opted for the modalities of a dissection for learning gross anatomy. Their accumulative reflective score was 1193. While 16 female students opted for the dissection specimens for learning gross anatomy with the accumulative score of1387. Out of 168 students 20 preferred the dissection specimens for learning. Total 19 male students opted for the both modalities of anatomy models and dissection specimens for learning gross anatomy. Their accumulative reflective score was 1580. While 30 female students opted for both the anatomy models and dissection specimen for learning gross anatomy with the accumulative score of 2328. Conclusion: Majority of the students with higher reflective score identified learning strategy preference for gross anatomy models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the different constructs of the Anatomy learning environment and the perception of medical students regarding the teaching facilities. Study Design: It was a thorough cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in a public sector and private sector medical college over a period of 6 months from Nov 2021 to Apr 2022. Methodology: It was a descriptive study in which a structured and self-administered questionnaire was distributed after obtaining consent from the subjects. For this study project, the best fit and validated model of The An atomy Education Environment Measurement Inventory (AEEMI) was selected to evaluate the perception of medical students of educational climates with regard to teaching and learning anatomy. The sample size was 163 and 104 respectively. Data was collected from final year students of two medical colleges; one teaching Anatomy in a traditional manner and other teaching Anatomy via integration so we assumed that the Anatomy learning environment is different in both colleges. Results: The analysis of data revealed that out of 163 students from the traditional curriculum, 75(46.0%) had a positive area about Perceptions of Anatomy Knowledge Relevance and 61(37.4%) had a positive area about Students' Positive Perceptions of Anatomy Teachers. Moreover, 104 students from integrated curriculum (63.8%) had a positive area about Students' Negative Perceptions of Anatomy Teachers and 36(22.1%) had a positive area about Students' Perception of Anatomy Subject Mastery. In addition, 48(29.4%) out of 163 had positive areas about Students' Perception of Anatomy Learning Resources. Students learning Anatomy via integration had positive perceptions in all five domains of inventory. Conclusions: The data reveals that out of 163 students, 56(34.22%) had a positive perception of the constructs of the anatomy learning environment. Total 67(61%) students who were studying Anatomy via integration had positive perceptions about their Anatomy teachers, whereas 80(49%) students of traditional curriculum were of the view that Anatomy educator s need to improve their teaching methodologies. Nearly 55(50%) students of integrated curriculum were satisfied that they have mastered the subject and 63(57%) were happy about novel and updated learning resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the perception of professionalism in the students of Army Medical College. Study Design: A survey based descriptive study. Material and Methods: In the first phase of the study, experts were selected from various fields in medicine through email and their opinion was sought about the most important key elements of professionalism. On the basis of response, in the second phase, weighting of the elements were selected and re-forwarded to the experts for their confirmation. In the third phase, a survey of 1st year and final year was conducted amongst the students about their knowledge, perception and importance of selected element. Results: The first version of the professionalism assessment scale (PAS) consisted of 35 items. The experts also suggested 10 additional elements of professionalism other than proposed by the researchers. Based on their percentages, 33 out of the 45 items were excluded, so the second version of the PAS contained 12 items. When the mean scores of the different elements were compared among the responses of first year and the final year students, three elements i.e. integrity, teamwork and ethics were found to be significant. Conclusion: Professionalism assessment scale (PAS) can be used for the assessment of perception of professionalism among undergraduate medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate under graduate medical students' perceptions on medical errors and patient safety. Study Design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College from Dec 2014 to Jan 2015. Material and Methods: The 4x simulation role play patient safety sessions of 15 minutes each took place in the lecture hall conducted on fourth-year medical students selected during a whole-class academic sessions in Dec 2014 and Jan 2015. Participants in these sessions were given clinical scenario after taking the informed written consent. After the role play, students were given the same questionnaire. Responses to each item were added using a like rt scale. Results: Most of the students agreed after the role play sessions that they had a good understanding of common medical errors. Conclusion: Medical students in Army Medical College had knowledge of medical errors as being a barrier between what is thought better and what is being available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this study at Army Medical College was to assess differences in learning of students from cadaveric dissection or plastic models; and explore their perceptions about efficacy of various instructional tools used during the gross anatomy practical time. Study Design: Two phase mixed methods sequential study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at anatomy department Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan over a period of three weeks in July 2013 after approval from the ethical review board. Participants and Methods: Quantiative phase 1 involved 50 second year MBBS students, selected through non probability convenience sampling,They were divided into two groups of 25 students. Group A covered head and neck gross anatomy dissection course through cadaveric dissection and group B using plastic models. At the end of course MCQ based assessment were conducted and statistically analyzed for both groups. In qualitative phase 2, two focus group discussions (FGD) with 10 second year MBBS students were conducted to explore students' perspectives about and their preferences of various instructional tools used during the gross anatomy practical time. The FGDs were audio taped, transcribed, and analyzed through thematic analysis. Results: The results of a post test of group A was 24.1 ± 4.26 and group B 30.96 ± 6.23 (p = 0.024). Focus group discussions generated three themes (Learning techniques used by students during gross anatomy practical time; Preferred learning techniques; and Non-preferred learning techniques). Students prefered small-group learning method over completely self-directed studies as the study materials were carefully chosen and objectives were clearly demonstrated with directions. Cadaveric dissection and didactic teachings were not preferred. Conclusion: Students exposed to models performed better in gross anatomy examination than those who learned through cadaveric dissection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to determine the educational impact of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) on various academic activities of undergraduate female medical students. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan from June 2013 to November 2013 Material and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Army Medical College, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) Islamabad. Data were collected from 224 undergraduate female medical students of all professional years. PMS was diagnosed according to WHO's ICD-10 criteria. Impact of premenstrual syndrome on academic activities of female medical students was assessed using a 22-itemed, structured questionnaire. Results: Two hundred and twenty four female undergraduate medical students gave their written consent to participate in this study. PMS was present among 207 (92.4%) female students. Major PMS symptoms experienced by the female students were: backache (87.5%), fatigue (80.2%), depressed mood (78.2%), anxiety (76.8%), hypersomnia (71%) and poor emotional control (64.3%). The frequency of various PMS symptoms interfered with their academic activities (76.3%), with large group discussion sessions (79.2%), with small group discussion sessions (72.9%), written assessment (66.6%) and oral assessment (70.0%). Conclusion: The study findings affirm the fact that premenstrual syndrome profoundly affects the academic activities of young female medical students. In the light of these pertinent findings we recommend that health education and counselling services are essential to be provided at medical college campuses for female undergraduates. This will not only help them alleviate the negative effects of PMS but also develop an understanding about their problems, enhancing their academic output and performance in early medical carrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]