Increased prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among physiotherapists during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Commentary.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is an exceptionally infectious virus that contaminates various systems and increases the demands on physiotherapists in the management of patients. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this commentary was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among physiotherapists at the workplace. METHODS: Explore the anxiety and stress levels of the physiotherapists during the pandemic and its consequence on the mental health. RESULTS: The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the approach of rehabilitation services to patients and increased the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMDs) among physiotherapists. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapists must exercise due caution and diligence while managing these patients to protect themselves from contracting the infection and avoid WMDs.

Perception of Medical Undergraduate Students about an Electronic Practical Examination In Orthopaedics During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background/purpose of study: No study has evaluated the perception of medical undergraduate students to the electronic objective structured practical examination (e-OSPE) in orthopaedics. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the feasibility and perception of the medical undergraduate students to e-OSPE conducted by the department of Orthopaedics to assess problem-solving and clinical decision-making skills of medical undergraduate students. Methods: Medical undergraduate students of second and third year at our medical college who completed the orthopaedic clinical posting and appeared for the orthopaedic practical examination during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic were included in this prospective observational study. Students appearing for the exams from 20th March 2021 to 26th June 2021 were invited to complete the questionnaire immediately after the e-OSPE. Internal consistency of the survey questions was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Results: 272 out of 312 eligible students completed the survey and the survey response rate was 87.2%. Nine groups of medical undergraduate students gave the orthopaedic practical exams from 20th March 2021 to 26th June 2021. 91.2% students felt that the e-OSPE represented a valid modality of evaluation of essential orthopaedic practical knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic. The overall reliability of the 19 questions included in our survey was very high (Internal consistency: Cronbach's alpha = 0.88). Conclusion: The e-OSPE was well received by the medical undergraduate students at our institute and the students had a positive perception about the new examination technique used in orthopaedics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bibliometric analysis of the top 50 most cited publications of the Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Trauma.

BACKGROUND: The Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Trauma (JCOT) is one of the top three orthopaedic journals from India. We set out to analyse the top 50 cited articles from JCOT since indexing in PubMed and Scopus. METHODS: We looked into the bibliometrics of the top 50 cited articles and compared citations from PubMed and Scopus, and depicted outputs from VOS viewer analysis on co-authorship and keywords. RESULTS: Total citations for top-cited articles were 1076 in numbers, with a maximum of 103.2016 and 2018 were the most productive years. The major contribution was from India with 74%, followed by the USA. New Delhi published maximally at 72%. Clinical topics and narrative reviews were the most common types of studies. Trauma and Adult reconstruction was the most common sub-specialities, and Level 4 was the most frequent level of study. The basic science and COVID-19 related articles received the maximum citations. The authors from Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals published the maximum number of top-50 cited articles in the JCOT. CONCLUSIONS: There is a steady increase in the number of publications in the JCOT, with an increasing number of citation counts. Both the Indian and foreign authors have been publishing in this journal at a comparative rate. Although the citation counts in Scopus are more than those in PubMed for given articles, more than 80% of articles are listed in both databases as top 50 cited articles. The majority of top-cited articles belonged to trauma and adult reconstruction, level III studies, and narrative reviews.

Impact and perception about distant online medical education (tele-education) on the educational environment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experiences of medical undergraduate students from India.

INTRODUCTION: The impact of online medical education using videoconferencing platforms on the education environment during the present COVID-19 pandemic is not known. The objectives were to evaluate the impact of online teaching using videoconferencing platforms on the education environment, satisfaction, and perception of the medical undergraduate students to online teaching. METHODS: This prospective observational survey undertaken at a medical college included voluntarily participating medical undergraduate students from first (2nd semester), second (4th semester), and third year MBBS (6th and 8th semesters). The education environment was evaluated using the validated Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM). The perception of the students was evaluated using questionnaire with five point Likert scale response. RESULTS: The response rate in our survey was 77.5% (465 out of 600 students). The mean DREEM score of medical undergraduate students was 132.3 ± 19.8. Domains of DREEM evaluated were students' perception of learning (30.1 ± 6.3), students' perception of teachers (29.7 ± 4.6), students' academic self-perception (21.3 ± 4.9), students' perception of atmosphere (32.5 ± 6.2), and students' social self-perception (18.7 ± 3.5). Two hundred and fifty five students (54.8%) were extremely satisfied and quite satisfied with the online teaching-learning modalities. Two hundred and fifty eight students (55.5%) rated online learning methods to be very useful and quite useful during the lockdown period. CONCLUSION: The educational environment at our medical college was positive and students had a positive perception and attitude toward the role of the videoconferencing platforms for learning (telemedicine) during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Top 100 cited articles on diabetes mellitus and Covid-19: A bibliometric analysis.

AIMS: There is a lack of bibliometric analytical studies on Diabetes Mellitus in Covid-19. As diabetes mellitus is a common co-morbidity associated with poor outcomes in Covid-19, we undertook a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 publications relating to this subject. METHODS: The top 100 cited papers were searched on Pubmed. Information about authors, month and year of publication, name of the journal, country of the affiliating institute of the first author, affiliation, total citations, citation density, type of study, type of paper, nature of the study, collaborations, number of affiliations and erratum details were collected. RESULTS: The top 100 papers were published in 57 journals and were cited 53,374 times. Though most of the top 100 papers were written by first authors affiliated to institutes in the United States, the publication from China were the most influential. Two institutions from the United States had the highest number of affiliations of the first author. The Lancet was the most productive journal with the highest number of total citations (24,221). CONCLUSIONS: This study gives valuable information to academicians and researchers regarding trends in the publication of the most influential articles on diabetes mellitus and Covid-19 infection.

Medical faculty perception toward digital teaching methods during COVID-19 pandemic: Experience from India.

BACKGROUND: Videoconferencing has been used as a modality of online medical teaching by various institutes. There is a paucity of studies reporting the perception of medical teachers toward teaching using teleconferencing platforms. The objective of this survey was to evaluate the perception of medical teachers toward teaching using videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom meet, Google meet, and Google classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hypothesis was teaching faculty would have a positive perception and experience toward web-based teaching modalities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical teachers of a medical college were invited to participate in a prospective observational cross-sectional online survey. The faculty demographic information, perception, experience, and satisfaction were noted. Perception data were presented as proportion and percentage. RESULTS: 104 out of 160 faculty members participated in the study (response rate = 65%). 61 male (58.7%) and 43 female (41.3%) faculty members participated in the study. The mean age of the faculty members was 39.3 years ± 13 (range: 27-69 years). Laptop (n = 73 [70.2%]) was the most commonly used electronic device by the faculty members for conducting e-teaching sessions followed by smartphone (n = 25 [24%]). Google meet was the most preferred videoconference tool for online teaching. Ninety-six faculties (92.2%) were satisfied with the e-teaching method adopted by the institute. Eighty-three faculty (79.8%) perceived the e-teaching method to be very useful and quite useful as a modality for teaching during the lockdown period. CONCLUSIONS: The teaching faculties had a positive perception toward digital education methods adopted for teaching of undergraduate medical students at our institute.