ABSTRACT
Aims: To assess medical students' perception of online teaching to suggest transforming the future curriculum in low-economic countries. Study Design: Cross-sectional online interview study. Place and Duration of Study: A team of collaborators interviewed final year medical and dental students of Pakistan from 07/08/2020 till 17/09/2020. Methodology: A questionnaire was developed based on open and close-ended questions in Google forms;focusing on institutional preparedness, views on online education, the institute's closure and COVID-19, and long-term effects of closure of the institute. Independent fellow researchers systematically analyzed the unaltered transcripts of the responses, and themes were then identified and coded to conclude the results. SPSS version 23 used for analysis. As this study was based on final year students. Results: In response to an invitation email, 2442/2661 (91.77%) students voluntarily participate in this qualitative study. Most participants were females (1614, 66.10%). Closing down institutes was directly linked to a lack of motivation and feel of helplessness. As most showed dissatisfaction with online teaching compounded by psychological effects, students feared losing clinical skills and life during the pandemic. Conclusion: The psychological impact of the crisis led to resistance to accepting the change for a better outcome. Incorporating telemedicine, different interactive learning style to online teaching, and resilience training would result in fruitful outcomes. Developed countries may also guide build infrastructure in developing countries to develop a more robust online teaching methodology in the long-run.
ABSTRACT
Aim: To determine the prevalence, attitude, and knowledge of self-medication of general population for the prevention of coronavirus during the COVID 19 pandemic. Place and duration of the study: Major studies of Punjab during 2020. Methodology: A self-generated questionnaire was distributed online amongst the general population of Punjab excluding the people using medication for any other chronic medical disorder. The study included the general public including the age group from 16-60 years. Results: Among 290 participants, 33.7% were males and 66.3% were female. Based on the data obtained 53% used medication without a doctor's prescription (self- medication) while 46.7% took the medication with a doctor's prescription. Those with the habit of self-medication relied on both allopathic and herbal medications due to various reasons, the most frequent reason found was unavailability of doctors (27.8%). The most frequently used self-medicated drugs were pain killers, Hydroxychloroquinone, Azithromycin and Ivermectin to prevent from this deadly virus (p-value=0.000).Adverse effects reported after self-medications are statistically non-significant. Conclusion It is concluded that majority of the general population of Punjab are in the habit of self-medicating themselves because of difficulty in approaching physicians and the most commonly self-medicated drug with or without symptoms was found to be tablet Azithromycin as a preventive measure during this pandemic.