A study on the preference of teaching methods among medical undergraduate students in a tertiary care teaching hospital, India.

BACKGROUND: In medical education, the learning-teaching method is an active process in which both students and teachers have to work mutually to enlighten the knowledge. Currently, in India, there is an increase in the enrollment of students in medical fields and thus medical educators face the challenge of teaching larger classes in a short period. Furthermore, it is observed that there is a lack of consensus about the best teaching and learning methods for medical students. This study aims to assess the preference of teaching methods and identify the reason for absenteeism among medical undergraduate students in a tertiary care teaching hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 246 medical undergraduate students in a tertiary care teaching hospital from August 2019 to October 2019. A pretested, validated self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the preference of teaching methods. The data were analyzed using SPSS-IBM software 23. RESULTS: The majority of the students belonged to 20-21 years of age group. Most of the students preferred practical demonstration (81.3%) as the preferred method of teaching and computer with a liquid crystal display projector as ideal media for teaching (63.8%). Boring/monotonous teaching class was found (73.5%) to be an important cause for absenteeism among medical undergraduate students. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the medical student's preference is changing from passive learning to active learning. We conclude by linking these emerging perceptions with suggestions to help drive excellence in medical education.

Askin (PNET) Tumor Unmasked by Trauma in a Young Male Patient.

A young male labourer developed pain at the site of blunt trauma over back of chest followed by fever, cough with expectoration, breathlessness and hemorrhagic pleural effusion in the side of injury. What could have been passed as a sequel of trauma turned out to be the consequences of an underlying rare and aggressive malignant tumor of the chest wall known as Askin tumor or Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor (PNET). CT thorax with guided FNAC, debulking operation, histopathological examination followed by immunohistochemistry of the tumor tissue led to the final diagnosis. Chemotherapy was administered following surgical resection. The patient died within nine months after diagnosis.

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura associated with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Thrombocytopenic purpura as a manifestation of pulmonary tuberculosis is very rare. We report a case of 25-year-old female who presented with thrombocytopenia-induced purpuric spots and an abnormal chest X-ray. There was no hepatosplenomegaly while the bone marrow examination revealed normal maturation of myeloid and erythroid series with increased megakaryocytes. Acid fast bacilli were seen in the sputum microscopy. A diagnosis of sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis along with immune thrombocytopenia was made. High dose intravenous immunoglobulin therapy along with antituberculous drugs corrected the thrombocytopenia and also cured pulmonary tuberculosis. This case report illustrates the causal association between immune thrombocytopenia and tuberculosis.

Bifid sternum.

A bifid sternum is a rare congenital anomaly generally diagnosed as asymptomatic at birth. It is sometimes associated with other congenital anomalies. The sternal defects are best corrected surgically during the neonatal period within the first month of life. Sometimes the defect may be diagnosed only in adult life. We here report a case of bifid sternum which was diagnosed incidentally in a 23-year-old male.

An unusual presentation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis.

A 22 years old female presented with fever, respiratory distress and a rapidly enlarging, soft left postauricular lump for last two months. She was found anaemic, had a right supraclavicular, non-tender lymph node of about 2.5 cm diameter and mild hepatosplenomegaly. She had a positive Mantoux test, and normal chest x-ray. Ultrasonography of abdomen showed multiple pre-and para-aortic enlarged lymph nodes. Mild pericardial effusion was detected on echocardiography. Fine needle aspiration cytology from the right supraclavicular lymph node showed epithelioid cell granuloma. Excision and biopsy of the dermoid were carried out. The content was pus, which was smear-negative but culture-positive for acid-fast bacilli. The patient responded to antituberculous chemotherapy satisfactorily.