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Introduction: Concomitant chemoradiation with cisplatin is standard treatment for non-metastatic head and neck cancers, but often limited by toxicities, especially deranged renal function and hearing complications. This leads to limited cycles of cisplatin due to challenges in administration and is not suitable for patients with poor renal function and hearing issues. Need of the study: Not enough data is available for patients who are not suitable for cisplatin administration along with radiation either due to sensitivity to cisplatin or the adverse effects mentioned earlier. Docetaxel has been recently observed to benefit such patients in overall response outcome including Disease Free Survival (DFS) and Overall Survival (OS) when administered concurrently with radiation. Improved clinical response with minimal toxicity to normal tissue is seen with docetaxel, as it is a phase-specific agent. Therefore, this would be a good alternative to Cisplatin in patients with deranged kidney function and sensorineural hearing loss. Aim: To estimate the adverse event profile and compliance of docetaxel with radiation. Methodology: This prospective observational study will be conducted in the department of Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology at Sidharth Gupta Memorial Cancer Hospital, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Sawangi (M), Wardha, Maharashtra, India, starting from May 2024 to May 2025. Patients with pathologically confirmed non-metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), who are planned for Concurrent Chemoradiation (CCRT) but not suitable for cisplatin, will receive concurrent weekly docetaxel at a dose of 15 mg/sqm. Radiotherapy (RT) will be delivered according to the institutional protocol, daily dose of 200 cGy for five days a week will be given. Continuous monitoring during treatment will include weekly clinical evaluations, regular blood tests (haemoglobin, blood counts, renal functions), and grading of adverse events (CTCAE v5 criteria). Treatment response will be assessed via clinical evaluation and CECT scans (RECIST v1.1). Statistical analysis will be performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0 and will involve analysis of categorical variables with Chi-square and Fisher-exact tests, and continuous variables with unpaired t-tests and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Time to event analysis will be done using the Kaplan-Meier method with p-value <0.05 considered significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. We initiated a conversation regarding the concept of professional identity formation (PIF) with faculty of Institute of Nursing at our university through a participatory workshop. We report the planning and conduct of the workshop, as well as lessons learnt from the discussions in the workshop. Methods. We designed and implemented a day-long workshop for 28 nursing faculty at Institute of Nursing, Bhaikaka University, Gujarat. The expected learning outcomes of the workshop were to: (i) understand the concept of PIF and process of socialization; (ii) identify factors influencing socialization; and (iii) discuss strategies to support PIF. The workshop included a series of four small group discussions, each followed by debriefing. We collected feedback using a questionnaire with 4 open-ended questions and written reflections on the learnings, within 2 days of the workshop. We carried out manual content analysis of text data generated during group work, reflections and feedback. Results. Twenty-six of the 28 participants responded to the questionnaire. Thirteen mentioned interactions during group activities and discussions with facilitators as a good part of the workshop. Constructive suggestions on improving the workshop were received from 13 respondents. Twenty-three respondents reported they would make changes in their practice after the workshop. Five respondents found the activity on roles and responses during socialization as needing more discussion. Key themes identified from the participants' reflections were: (i) their different views about professional identity, (ii) experiences and reactions and (iii) their future action plan. Conclusions. The workshop was well received by the participants. Our approach to the workshop might help other institutions design and implement similar activities as a part of their faculty development programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Reflective practice is an integral component of continuing professional development. However, assessing the written narration is complex and difficult. Rubric is a potential tool that can overcome this difficulty. We aimed to develop, validate and estimate inter-rater reliability of an analytical rubric used for assessing reflective narration. Methods. A triangulation type of mixed-methods design (Qual-Nominal group Technique, Quan-Analytical followup design and Qual-Open-ended response) was adopted to achieve the study objectives. Faculties involved in the active surveillance of Covid-19 participated in the process of development of assessment rubrics. The reflective narrations of medical interns were assessed by postgraduates with and without the rubric. Steps recommended by the assessment committee of the University of Hawaii were followed to develop rubrics. Content validity index and inter-rater reliability measures were estimated. Results. An analytical rubric with eight criteria and four mastery levels yielding a maximum score of 40 was developed. There was a significant difference in the mean score obtained by interns when rated without and with the developed rubrics. Kendall's coefficient of concordance, which is a measure of concordance of scorers among more than two scorers, was higher after using rubrics. Conclusion. Our attempt to develop an analytical rubric for assessing reflective narration was successful in terms of the high content validity index and better inter-rater concordance. The same process can be replicated to develop any such analytical rubric in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children suffering from allergic rhinitis (AR) in their earlier days of life, not receiving proper treatment, subsequently develop asthma. To sensitize the first-year medical undergraduates about AR by implementing pediatric allergic rhinitis (PAR) module as a part of their attitude, ethics, and communication (AETCOM) curriculum. Materials and Methods: Triangulation type of mixed method study was conducted from January 2021 to June 2021 among 125 first-year medical undergraduate students. The PAR module communication checklist was developed and validated by an interprofessional (IP) team. Twenty multiple-choice questions (MCQs) were framed for both pretest and posttest cognitive assessment of the students. The pretest assessment was done (first 15 min) followed by the teaching of the PAR module (30 min), and lastly the posttest assessment along with open-ended feedback (last 15 min). Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) communication checklist along with the guidelines was given to the observer during the student-patient encounter to score the learner and to assess the communication skill. Apart from descriptive analysis, paired t-test and content analysis were done. Results: A statistically significant difference in the mean scores before and after the PAR module and communication checklist (P < 0.001). Majority (78/81, 96%) of the students favored this module, while (28/81) 34.6% suggested modifications. Most of the parent's feedback was good about the student's communication skill in terms of empathy (118), behavior (107), and greet (125); however, 33 parents were about the opinion of difficulties in closing the session, 17 parents commented about student's language problem and 27 about feedback. Conclusion: The PAR module should be taught in the current medical curriculum as a part of AETCOM in the foundation course as early clinical exposure with some modifications in the existing module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Suguna. Elayaperumal, Vinayagamoorthy. Venugopal, Amol. Dongre Background: As a part of initiating community-based palliative care program in the field practice areas of Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC), Villupuram, it [...]

Background. Medical educators in India made rapid adjustments to maintain continuity and integrity of medical education in the midst of disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, there are concerns regarding achievement of competence by undergraduate medical students due to inadequate clinical exposure. We explored the focus of initiatives from medical educators in India by a scoping review of published articles on developments in medical education during the pandemic to map concepts, main sources and the literature available in PubMed. Methods. We did this scoping review of published articles in PubMed database in four steps: (i) identification of research questions; (ii) identification of relevant studies; (iii) selection of studies meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria, and charting of data; and (iv) collating the summary and reporting of results. Manual content analysis was done to derive frequencies of variables. Results. Of the 52 articles identified, 22 met the requirements. Most studies (68.2%) were published in 2020. Half of the studies were conducted among undergraduate students and the remaining among postgraduates (27.3%), faculty (18.2%) and interns (4.5%). All the studies were evaluations at Kirkpatrick level-1 (18; 81.8%) and level-2 (4; 18.2%). Most of the studies (9, 41%) focused on exploration of perspectives about online learning among students and faculty, 9 (27.3%) on teaching-learning, 4 (18.2%) on formative assessment and 3 (13.6%) on summative assessment. Conclusions. Most studies were evaluations at Kirkpatrick level-1 and level-2 among undergraduate medical students with a focus on conceptual understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Venugopal. Vinayagamoorthy, Elayaperumal. Suguna, Amol. Dongre Background: As a part of Memorandum of Understanding with Tamil Nadu Institute of Palliative Medicine, community-based palliative care services have been initiated 2 [...]