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Background: COVID-19 pandemic has affected all dimensions of day to day life across the world and medical education was no exception. With this study, we aimed to understand the effect of nationwide restrictions on medical education in Qatar, the models of education adopted during this period and perceptions of participants to the same. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study utilizing an online questionnaire distributed via convenience sampling between April–October 2020. Study participants were faculty and trainees in governmental undergraduate and postgraduate medical education institutes. Two sets of questionnaires were designed for each group. They were asked a series of questions to assess pre- and post-COVID pandemic educational practices, their preferred teaching methods, and their familiarity with electronic teaching platforms. Faculty respondents were asked about their perceived barriers to delivery of medical education during the pandemic and their agreement on a 5-point Likert scale on specific elements. Trainees were asked a series of multiple-choice questions to characterize their pre- and post-COVID pandemic educational experiences. Both groups were asked open-ended questions to provide qualitative insights into their answers. Data were analysed using STATA software version 12.0. Results: Majority of trainees (58.5%) responded that the pandemic has adversely affected medical education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Trainees (58.5%) and faculty (35.7%) reported an increased reliance on e-learning. Trainees preferred face-to-face education, while faculty preferred a combination of models of education delivery (33.5% versus 37.1%, p = 0.38). Although 52.5% of the faculty had no previous experience of delivering education through e-learning modalities, 58.9% however felt confident in using e-learning software. Conclusions: Faculty and trainees agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the provision of medical education and training in Qatar, with an increased dependence on e-learning. As trainee's prefer face-to-face models of education, we may have to consider restructuring of medical curricula in order to ensure that optimum learning is achieved via e-learning, while at the same time enhancing our use, knowledge and understanding of the e -learning methods. Further research is warranted to assess if these changes have influenced objective educational outcomes like graduation rates or board scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qatar, a country with a strong health system and a diverse population consisting mainly of expatriate residents, has experienced two large waves of COVID-19 outbreak. In this study, we report on 2634 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences from infected patients in Qatar between March-2020 and March-2021, representing 1.5% of all positive cases in this period. Despite the restrictions on international travel, the viruses sampled from the populace of Qatar mirrored nearly the entire global population's genomic diversity with nine predominant viral lineages that were sustained by local transmission chains and the emergence of mutations that are likely to have originated in Qatar. We reported an increased number of mutations and deletions in B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 lineages in a short period. These findings raise the imperative need to continue the ongoing genomic surveillance that has been an integral part of the national response to monitor the SARS-CoV-2 profile and re-emergence in Qatar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adverse drug reactions avoidability tool called the Liverpool ADR avoidability assessment tool (LAAT) was recently developed (for research purposes), and subsequently validated with mixed interrater reliability (IRR). We investigated the comparative IRR of this tool in an inpatient cohort to ascertain its practical application in this setting.The patient population was comprised of 44 ADR drug pairs drawn from an observational prospective cohort of patents with ADR attending a Weill Cornell Medicine-affiliated tertiary medical Centre in Doha Qatar (Hamad General Hospital). Using the LAAT, and modified Hallas tools, 4 independent raters (2 Clinical Pharmacologists, and 2 General Physicians) assessed and scored the 44 ADR-drug pairs. Agreement proportions between the rating pairs were evaluated as well individual/overall kappa statistics and intraclass correlation coefficients. We evaluated the weight of each of the 7 questions on the LAAT tool to ascertain its determinative role.Across 44 ADR-drug pairs, the overall median Fleiss kappa using the LAAT, and modified Hallas tools were 0.67 (interquartile range (IQR) 0.55, 0.76), 0.36 (IQR, 0.23-0.71) respectively. The overall percentage pairwise agreement with the LAAT and modified Hallas tools were 78.5%, and 62.2% respectively. Exact pairwise agreement occurred in 37 out of 44 (range 0.71-1), and 27 of 44 (0.53-0.77) ADR-drug pairs using the LAAT and modified Hallas tools respectively. Using the LAAT tool, the overall intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.68 (CI 0.55, 0.79), and 0.37 (CI 0.22, 0.53) with the modified Hallas tool.We report a higher proportion of "possible" and "definite" avoidability outcomes of adverse drug reactions compared with the modified Hallas, or that reported by developers of the LAAT tool. Although initially developed for research purposes, our report has suggested for the first time a potential applicability of this tool in clinical environment as well.