ABSTRACT
Purpose: Effective communication lies at the heart of a patient--doctor relationship. Communication skills (CS) teaching and assessment is not a part of the postgraduate (PG) curriculum. Lack of effective CS in current PG students' results in patient distrust and dissatisfaction, conflicts, and compromised healthcare. The regulatory authorities of medical education have recognized the need to inculcate soft skills among medical graduates, one of which is CS. The purpose of this study was to assess the need for teaching CS to ophthalmology PG students and develop and introduce a module for the same. Methods: In this prospective, interventional study done at the ophthalmology department of a tertiary hospital, a validated 8 day CS workshop was conducted for 60 PG students through interactive lectures, observations, video sessions, and role plays. Feedbacks were obtained through narratives, validated Google survey, reflections and verbal method and analyzed. Results: In the needs assessment done on 27 departmental faculties, 20 faculties found poor communication to be a major reason for patient complaints. All faculties agreed that CS should be taught to medical students. Statistically significant improvement in CS awareness was noted among students after the workshop. Lack of CS training, work burden, and language were identified as main barriers to effective communication. All the students were satisfied with the workshop and wanted it to be conducted regularly. Conclusion: This study establishes that CS training is essential to improve patient satisfaction and patient-doctor relationships. Barriers to effective CS could be identified, for which possible solutions could be found.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The aim of mandibular fracture treatment isto restore the pre-injury anatomic form and function, withparticular care to establish the occlusion. Of the varioustreatment modalities available, Champys miniplate fixation hasbecome the most widely used technique. The 3-dimensional(3D) plating for mandibular fracture treatment is relativelynew. This study was conducted to compare efficacy, stabilityand rigidity of 3-dimensional plates with that of 2mm titaniumminiplates in the surgical management of anterior mandibularfractures.Material and Methods: The study was conducted on 70patients with anterior mandbibular fractures (Symphysis andParasymphysis region). Patients were randomly divided intotwo groups, Group I (n=35) in which the patients underwentfixation by miniplates (2 nos) while in Group II (n=35), 3Dplates were used for fixation. The patients preoperative, intraoperative and post-operative clinical and radiological findingswere recorded in a proforma and were subjected to statisticalanalysis. Fisher’s Exact Test was used to compare the dataobtained from group I and group II patients.Results: Out of 70 patients, 77.14% corresponded to the agegroup of 15-30 years and 82.85% were males. Road trafficaccident (80) % was the leading cause of fracture. The timerequired to adapt and fix the miniplates was slightly more than3-D plates and results were statistically significant. Skeletaland occlusal stability was maintained in both group.Conclusion: There is no major difference in terms of treatmentoutcome in both systems, and both are equally effective inmandibular fracture treatment.