Searching the way to keep students awake in class room

Team Based Learning [TBL] is gaining popularity as a small group teaching methodology in Medical institutions. Owing to its property of being less resource intensive it is especially useful in developing countries. Students being most important stakeholders need to be focused on research for implementation of the study was conducted to access the students' perceptions as they compare traditional lectures with new methodology in our context. A fifteen item five point Likert's scale questionnaire duly prepared by experts and piloted in students, was distributed among students of fourth year at the end of second module of Team based learning in the subject of internal medicine for fourth year MBBS class and collected after completion. Data was analyzed using SPSS 15. Independent t-test was performed and means were compared for TBL and Lecture methodology. Global rating was also comparedfor both. Total 174 students responded out of which 53 were males and 121 females. 61 students marked "excellent" category in overall rating with preference to TBL by 51 and lectures by 10. Among 121 marking in [good] category 81 were for TBL and 40 for lectures. All fifteen responses in the questionnaires favoured TBL. Comments included [excellent way of retention] for TBL. There was active participation of students throughout the sessions. Students favoured TBL as compared to lectures and therefore TBL is a suitable preferred methodology to incorporate active learning in our undergraduate curriculum

Level of competence in clinical skills of medical officers working in the accident and emergency departments of district headquarter hospitals

To assess the competence in clinical skills of the medical officers [MOs] working in the Accident and Emergency [A and E] Departments of District Headquarter Hospitals [DHQH]

Study Design: Cross sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: DHQHs of Jhang and Sahiwal, in the month of December, 2008

Methodology: A questionnaire regarding 14 basic clinical skills applied in patient care in A and E Department was prepared with the help of district specialists, MOs and the nursing staff working in DHQHs. The responses were recorded by using modified Likert scale at seven levels of competence. Four respondents were asked to assess the competence of each MO: MO him/herself; a peer of the MO; consultant physician/surgeon; nurse working in the same department. The results were computed and analysed by using statistical software SPSS version 15

Results: In DHQH Sahiwal the collective mean of the level of competence of clinical skills by all the respondents [n=15] was highest for focused history [5.64 out of 7] and lowest for chest intubation [3.15 out of 7]. In DHQH Jhang the collective mean of the level of competence of clinical skills by all respondents [n=21] was highest for uretheral catheterization [5.20/7] and lowest for Cervical spine immobilization [3.18/7]. There was no significant difference in perceptions of different groups regarding level of skill for a particular doctor

Conclusion: The level of competence in clinical skills of MOs working in the A and E department of DHQHs is suboptimal and needs to be improved urgently to avoid unnecessary mortality and morbidity

Problem based learning: are our entry level medical students ready

Objectives: To assess the self-directed learning readiness of entry level medical students in public and private medical colleges of Faisalabad

Study Design: Cross sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: All three Medical colleges of Faisalabad [One public and two private] during March, 2010

Methodology: A questionnaire based on 58 items Guglielmino scale for self-directed learning readiness was distributed to Year I students of Medical Colleges in Faisalabad. The forms contained a demographic data portion at the end. The questionnaires were distributed at the end of regular lecture and completed by students in 30 minutes. Incomplete questionnaires were excluded from the analysis

Data Analysis: Analyzed by using statistical software SPSS version 15

Results: Out of received 307 questionnaires 220 contained complete fields. These included 150[50% of the class] students from Punjab Medical College [PMC], 43 [43% of the class] from University Medical College [UMC] and 27[54% of the class] from Independent Medical College [IMC]. The mean score at Guglielmino scale was 203. While there was no statistical difference in the mean scores of the colleges [PMC=205, UMC=208, IMC=196] the score was in Category -Average? for PMC and UMC and -Below Average? for IMC as described in -Guglielmino scale?. There were 16 out of 58 items which showed significant statistical difference among colleges

Conclusion: The self-directed learning readiness of entry level medical students as assessed by Guglielmino scale is shown to be borderline. This factor needs consideration before adoption of the problem based learning. Addition of a component for enhancement of this skill appears to be required in the reformed curriculum of undergraduate medical education for maximizing learning