Online viva voce as a formative assessment method in forensic medicine during COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Conducting online classes and assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic is not without challenges. The world of medical education is adapting online training and assessment because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The present study was conducted to assess the students' perception regarding the process, difficulties encountered and perceived effectiveness of online assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Online viva-voce (theory and visual based) was conducted in a government medical college in Karwar, Karnataka, India using videoconferencing application (Google Meet) to 149 second MBBS students as a formative assessment in 2020 over 3 months. Ten students per day joined Google Meet, 10 questions were asked to each student and assessed using a tutor marking system (on-spot). A feedback questionnaire (Google Form) was administered to students who attended online Viva-Voce. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Student's t-test). RESULTS: Out of 149 students, 132 participated and responded to a feedback questionnaire. Majority of the participants (91%) agreed that questions covered all topics kept for viva, 82% of them felt it would be helpful for performance in final examinations. Thirty percent of students faced network issues at their places, 45% felt nervous while facing viva in the presence of other students and 35% of participants preferred online methods over traditional viva voce. Online viva voce can be transparent (90%) and less biased (88%) if done in structured format. CONCLUSION: Online viva-voce may become relevant and effective in medical education assessment with transparent marking system for students' performance.

Global Positioning System: a new tool for measurement of animal bites in a rural area near Bangalore, South India.

This exploratory study was conducted in villages near Bangalore, South India with the primary objective of spatial mapping animal bite cases using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. GPS technology was useful as a new tool in accurate measurement of animal bite cases.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis against rabies in children: safety of purified chick embryo cell rabies vaccine (Vaxirab N) when administered by intradermal route.

Animal bites in humans are a public health problem. Children are the most frequently exposed, representing 50% of human exposures in canine rabies infected areas. Pre-exposure vaccination using cell culture vaccines is a safe and effective method of preventing rabies among children in these highly endemic regions. The development of immunological memory after pre exposure vaccination has established long lasting immunity against rabies in humans. The present study assessed the safety of Purified Chick Embryo cell Rabies Vaccine (Vaxirab N) administered as a three-dose intradermal pre-exposure regimen on days 0, 7, and 21 in healthy volunteered children of 5-10 y age group from an urban poor locality in Bangalore, India. One hundred fifty three apparently healthy children of both sexes between 5 and 10 y of age were enrolled in the study and 123 (80.4%) completed all three doses. A total of 405 doses of intradermal vaccine was administered, among which 25 adverse reactions were reported from 17 children. The adverse reactions were pain at the injection site 15 (3.7%), redness 2 (0.5%), itching at the site of injection 1 (0.2%), fatigue 1 (0.2%), fever 3 (0.7%), myalgia 2 (0.5%) and allergy 1 (0.2%). All reactions subsided without any complication. In conclusion, pre exposure vaccination against rabies is a useful tool for protecting children living in highly endemic regions and Vaxirab N has proved to be safe and well tolerated by intradermal route among children.

Global positioning system: a new tool to measure the distribution of anemia and nutritional status of children (5-10 years) in a rural area in south India.

UNLABELLED: Global positioning system (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that is of late being used in health care. OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to describe the geographical distribution and assess the prevalence of anemia and malnutrition in children aged 5-10 years with GPS. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This exploratory study was conducted over a period of 2 months in the rural field practice area of a medical college situated in Bangalore during June-July 2012. Children aged 5-10 years were the study subjects. RESULTS: GPS was used for describing the geographical distribution of anemia and nutrition status on the Google earth map. The prevalence of anemia in the study subjects was 8.7%. The prevalence of underweight, stunting, thinness, and severe thinness among the study subjects was 52.8%, 28.5%, 23.5%, and 29.1%, respectively; however, overweight and obesity were observed only in 0.9% and 1.2% of the study subjects, respectively. CONCLUSION: GPS was easy to use and was able to demonstrate the actual distribution of morbidity at the household level in the rural area.