approach for developing integrated undergraduate medical curriculum

Background and Objectives: Medical schools are to develop integrated medical curricula because the term ''integrated curriculum'' has grown up and flourished globally and it has become mandatory to align the medical education with the global concept in Pakistan. This paper aims to present a guideline to design an undergraduate integrated medical curriculum

Methods: Various themes are used to develop integrated curriculum which are basic medical science, simulation skills, clinical science, personality development, research, entrepreneurship and pre specialization. Each theme is subdivided, termed a module and its contents primarily focus on particular aspect

Results: Knowledge, skill and attitude, embodied in themes or modules, are planted in specific way that they have horizontal as well as vertical integration. There is no boundary of various traditional disciplines in template of five year curriculum. For example, diagnosis is a theme which carries contents from medicine, surgery, orthopedics etc

Conclusion: The blueprint introduced in this paper would help medical educators to draft integrated medical curricula for those institutions which intend to switch their medical programs from traditional to integrated one

Prevalence of anemia in pregnant women and its effects on maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality

To determine the frequency of anemia in pregnant women and its effect on maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. It is a prospective study of 500 pregnant women attending OPD of obstetrics and gynaecology department, Muhammad Medical College Hospital, Mirpurkhas Sindh during one year from 1st April 2007 to 31st March 2008. The patients were selected randomly irrespective of their gestational age. Data was entered on a pro forma, blood CP was done and those with anemia were selected for further study. Out of 500 pregnant women randomly selected for the study, 375 were diagnosed to have anemia of different severity and etiology. About 20% of them were in their first trimester, 25.8% in 2nd and 54.2% in the 3rd trimester. Majority of women had moderate anemia [i.e 52%] while 36% were mildly anemic. Severe anemia was seen in 12% of patients. About nine percent of women delivered before term, and 12.5% of babies were born with low birth weight. Prevalence of perinatal mortality was 2.1%. Two women suffered from abruption while 15 women had post partum haemorrhage [PPH]. There is a very high prevalence of anemia with pregnancy, especially during third trimester and significantly affects the maternal and fetal outcome in pregnancy

comparative study of FDPs and D-dimers in intrauterine fetal death

Ninety subjects were included in the present study and were divided into three groups. Group A included 30 pregnant females with normal pregnancy as control from 20 weeks of gestation onward. Group B included 30 pregnant females with intrauterine fetal death < 20 weeks duration and Group C included 30 pregnant females with IUFD > 2 weeks duration. FDPs and D-dimers were performed by commercially available kits. Results were analysed by using chi-square [x2] test and level of significance was done. FDPs and D-dimers were significantly increased in females of IUFD in groups B and Crecommend it as a curative and palliative procedure for benign and malignant diseases of esophagus