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Background & Aims We utilized a triangulation method of a faculty development program's (FDP) evaluation comprising short-course workshops on classroom behaviors and lecturing skills of basic sciences faculty in a medical school. Methods & Results This study utilized data from the pre and post evaluation of classroom lectures by an expert observer. Course participants were observed before the inception of a 4-month FDP and after 6-months of program completion. Findings at 6-month post-FDP interval were supplemented with students’ and participant's self-evaluation. Expert evaluation of 15 participants showed that more participants were summarizing lectures at the end of their class (p = 0.021), utilizing more than one teaching tool (p = 0.008) and showing a well-structured flow of information (p = 0.013). Among the students, majority (95.5%, n = 728) agreed on “teachers were well-prepared for the lecture”, however, a low number (66.1%, n = 504) agreed on “teachers were able to make the lecture interesting”. On self-evaluation (n = 12), majority of the participants (91.7%, n = 11) thought these FDP workshops had a positive impact on their role as a teacher. Conclusions Gathering feedback from multiple sources can provide a more holistic insight into the impact of an FDP and can provide a robust framework for setting up future FDP targets.

Background COVID-19 pandemic brought on new challenges to medical education with regards to the transition to online education and examination methods. The purpose of this study was to understand the issues encountered during the implementation of a remote online system of examination and the student satisfaction, in undergraduate settings of a low-income country. Methodology: Our study includes data from a diverse population of five undergraduate classes of medicine and four classes from dentistry of a private medical school. A Remote Online Assessment (ROA) system was designed using free software to transform the traditional in-person high-stakes examination into an online equivalent. The first phase consisted of three principal activities with appropriate student training leading to a summative online exam at the end of it. Each activity was coupled with student feedback the detailed analysis of which guided the implementation process. Results More than 800 students took part in the implementation process of ROA. Feedback at all three intervals showed a significantly higher level of satisfaction in the clinical year students than in the preclinical. The overall satisfaction rate was lower among female students. The highest level of satisfaction was achieved after online one-on-one training of students in smaller groups with mini-mock exams. The most commonly identified obstacles were the insufficient time for exam completion (n = 614) and internet speed and connectivity issue (n = 470). While the majority of the students regarded this novel ROA not better than the traditional in-person examination, they acknowledged its significance in helping them continue their studies and prepare for their mid-term summative exam syllabus. Conclusions Unfamiliarity with online learning systems could impede the implementation of ROA in low-income countries. Conducting multiple online mock activities coupled with training in short groups with more focus on females and preclinical students can lead to satisfaction regarding such an online examination system.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.5.6464 How to cite this:Ali SMH, Masood HMU, Malik A. Need for a single standardized licensing & residency-entrance level exam policy in the medical education system of Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(5):1083-1085. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.5.6464 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Metachronous colonic carcinomas arise from months to years after the resection of the first or index primary colorectal cancer. They are not a result of tumor recurrence or metastasis and likely arise as a result of the field cancerization effect. This report presents the case of a 63-year-old male patient without family history of a colorectal cancer but had an index primary adenocarcinoma of the cecum (stage IIIC) five years ago that was treated with surgical resection and adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He presented with fatigue and anemia of 6-month duration secondary to recurrent melena, and the specific cause of which remained obscure despite intensive diagnostic workup. Recurrence of a malignancy at the previous anastomosis site was ruled out. The patient continued to have recurrent and intermittent gastrointestinal bleeding until a nuclear red blood cell scan detected a bleeding spot in the epigastric region, which actually turned out to be a second primary carcinoma (stage I) arising from an adenoma in the transverse colon. The patient underwent a left colectomy with ileosigmoid anastomosis formation. During a two-month postoperative follow-up, the patient did not experience any episode of melena or anemia. Even though metachronous colon cancers rarely present with a recurrent and intermittent gastrointestinal bleeding with melena, an aggressive workup must be aimed at ruling out a second independent malignancy in patients who are in remission after an index primary colorectal cancer resection through hemicolectomy. Any neoteric lesion found on colonoscopy in such cases should be dealt with a higher degree of suspicion. Therefore, the need for surveillance colonoscopy as recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines is imperative and should be practiced in resource-limited countries.

Background Understanding the factors associated with disease severity and mortality in Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is imperative to effectively triage patients. We performed a systematic review to determine the demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological factors associated with severity and mortality in COVID-19. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase and WHO database for English language articles from inception until May 8, 2020. We included Observational studies with direct comparison of clinical characteristics between a) patients who died and those who survived or b) patients with severe disease and those without severe disease. Data extraction and quality assessment were performed by two authors independently. Results Among 15680 articles from the literature search, 109 articles were included in the analysis. The risk of mortality was higher in patients with increasing age, male gender (RR 1.45, 95%CI 1.23–1.71), dyspnea (RR 2.55, 95%CI 1.88–2.46), diabetes (RR 1.59, 95%CI 1.41–1.78), hypertension (RR 1.90, 95%CI 1.69–2.15). Congestive heart failure (OR 4.76, 95%CI 1.34–16.97), hilar lymphadenopathy (OR 8.34, 95%CI 2.57–27.08), bilateral lung involvement (OR 4.86, 95%CI 3.19–7.39) and reticular pattern (OR 5.54, 95%CI 1.24–24.67) were associated with severe disease. Clinically relevant cut-offs for leukocytosis(>10.0 x109/L), lymphopenia(< 1.1 x109/L), elevated C-reactive protein(>100mg/L), LDH(>250U/L) and D-dimer(>1mg/L) had higher odds of severe disease and greater risk of mortality. Conclusion Knowledge of the factors associated of disease severity and mortality identified in our study may assist in clinical decision-making and critical-care resource allocation for patients with COVID-19.

Introduction Clinical information (CI) is a key requisite to diagnose and report a specimen in histopathology. A timely dispatched report can help a clinician to confirm a diagnosis and initiate a prompt treatment plan while an unnecessary delay in reporting time can compromise patient's healthcare. The aim of this study was to ascertain the impact of the adequacy of CI provided by clinicians on the turnaround time (TAT) and to investigate factors pertinent to specimens, their handling, and diagnosis. Methods This retrospective study reviewed a total of 803 surgical specimens reported in a duration of four months (from December 2015 till March 2016) by the Department of Histopathology, FMH College of Medicine & Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan. Frozen section and cytology specimens were excluded. CI was classified into three categories: short and focused, long and detailed, and deficient CI. Deficient CI was designated where the pathologist had to seek more information from the requesting clinicians. Total time taken by the histopathologist to complete a report was calculated after excluding weekends and holidays. Other factors like type of specimen, special staining, diagnosis of malignancy and source of referral were also studied. The data were entered and analyzed on SPSS 22.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY). Shapiro-Wilk test was used to measure the distribution. Results Most of the specimens (46.2%, n = 371) were reported within three days. Of these, most of the specimens (46.9%, n = 174) had a short and focused CI (p < 0.001). Majority of the specimens which were reported within four to five days (42.1%, n = 114) and after five days (62.1%, n = 100) were found to have a long and detailed CI in their requisition forms. Median TAT extended to six (4.00-7.00) days with the use of special stains (p < 0.001). One hundred and sixty-three (20.29%) of the total cases were diagnosed as malignant in which the median TAT significantly prolonged to five days (p < 0.001). Most of the specimens (80%, n = 60) received from the outside laboratories had a long and detailed CI in requisition forms. Endometrial tissue specimen was the predominant type received by the department (24.3%, n = 90). Conclusion Adequate CI is necessary for timely and error-free reporting of a specimen in surgical histopathology. A short, focused and concise CI is associated with a shorter TAT. Long and detailed CI is often seen with a complex surgical specimen that requires a longer time to report. Factors like specimen type, special staining, number of special stains and diagnosis of a malignancy also affect TAT.

Dyslipidemia is a disease of abnormal lipid levels in the blood that contributes to the atherosclerotic process. This atherogenic process leads to the formation of plaque and also leads to thromboembolic events and other vascular accidents. It is known that high-density lipoprotein cholesterol serves as a protective effect on the vessel wall and causes the reduction in the progression of atherosclerosis. And multiple interventions are directed in maintaining a higher level of the aforementioned lipoprotein cholesterol. While the low-density lipoprotein stays controversial but lowering its levels through various therapeutic agents is the main goal in the management of dyslipidemia. A newer group of drugs, PCSK9 inhibitors lowers the levels of low-density lipoprotein through modulating PCKS9 gene involved in cholesterol metabolism and affects the levels of the lipoproteins by controlling the receptors. The inhibitors of this gene decrease PCSK9-induced low-density lipoprotein receptor degradation in the lysosomes of hepatocytes increasing its recycling and expression on the cell surface, causing increased clearance of low-density lipoprotein from the circulation. These drugs Alicuromab, Evolocumab and along with other agents can be a novel approach in controlling dyslipidemic state. This review revisits the literature in understanding the pathophysiology of dyslipidemia along with its management by PCKS9 inhibitors, its mechanism of action, its pharmacokinetics, the results of the clinical trials and the limitations in its application.