Research amongst junior and senior medical students; comparison of knowledge, attitude and practice

Evidence based scientific knowledge and research is an integral part of medicine. This led us to this study to find out the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding research in medical students of final year and first year at Army Medical College NUST, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The objectives of the study were to compare the level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding research amongst medical students of final year MBBS and 1[st] year MBBS. Cross sectional descriptive study. Army Medical College-NUST Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Three months [October 2013 to December 2013]. A questionnaire consisting of 23 closed questions, was filled by students of first and final year MBBS, through non-probability convenience sampling. The data was analyzed by SPSS 21. p value of < 0.05 was considered to be significant. Over 50% of first year students and 21.53% of the final year students had poor knowledge of research methodology. 89.30% students from final year along with 51.30% students from first year were motivated and had interest in research activities. Not a single student from first year and only 12.37% of students from final year were actively involved in research process at the time of undertaking the research. 50.40% first year students and 58.46% from final year strongly disagreed that there are ample opportunities for research in the college. A working scientific forum should be established in the college with introduction of student mentor link. Students should be guided on how to carry out a research and how to make a good research question, how to develop skills for paper writing and evaluating the data collected

Evaluation of the results of treatment of transverse patellar fractures with cancellous screws

Tension band wiring [TBW] is the most common method used to treat displaced transverse patellar fractures. While TBW is very efficient to compress the fracture during knee flexion, it is not that effective during knee extension. The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of treatment of transverse patellar fractures with cancellous screws. Twenty patients with displaced transverse patellar fractures were treated by open reduction and fixation by small set cancellous screws. The mean age of patients was 36.6 +/- 1 7.4 years. There were sixteen males. Road traffic accidents accounted for the majority of trauma. The mean time lapse before surgery was 4.5 days. Two screws were used in sixteen, three screws in three and four screws in one patient. The mean time to clinical union was 9 +/- 2.3 weeks while the mean time to radiological union was 13 +/- 3.6 weeks. All Patients completed six months follow up period. Using a modified Hospital for Special Surgery [HSS] knee scoring system, thirteen patients were excellent, five good and two fair results. Patients improved throughout the follow up period. Results were not affected by age, sex, time lapsed before the operation, and the number of screws used. Complications included prominent hardware in one patient, limited range of movements in six patients in which one developed 20° extensor lag. We concluded that the use of cancellous screws in the treatment of transverse patellar fractures yielded satisfactory outcome with low rate of complications in most cases

Displaced fracture of the tibial spine in children open reduction and double osteosutures

Fourteen cases of displaced [type III] avulsion fracture of the tibial spine managed by open reduction and double non-absorbable osteosutures were studied for knee stability and range of movement. The age ranged from 6-19 years [average 9.6 years]. Eleven were recent and 3 were late presenting cases following a period of plaster immobilization [2.7 and 11 weeks]. Anatomical reduction was easily achieved in recent fractures, with resulting stable knee [except in one asymptomatic laxity of the ACL] with full range of movement [except in one 30 degrees limitation of flexion]. In the late cases, anatomical reduction was impossible and ACL laxity persisted with limitation of 20-30 degrees of extention. At late follow-up, radiographic upward projection of the tibial spine was met in 6 recent cases and was not related to anatomical reduction. Open reduction and double osteosutures for displaced tibial spine fracture insured a stable knee with full range of movement