Exploring Empathy In A Dentist-Patient Relationship. Conclusions From Qualitative Exploratory Research Of Practicing Dentists

Objective: This study explored the factors influencing the development of empathy in a dentist-patient relationship. Design: An exploratory qualitative study. Place and duration of the study: Khyber Medical University KPK, Pakistan October 2019 to April 2020.was conducted during 2019-2020 Methodology: This exploratory qualitative study was conducted during 2019-2020. It was conducted on 12 dental surgeons, recruited from four major dental clinical specialties. A purposive sampling technique was used. In-depth interviews were conducted through a semi-structured format. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed, using the thematic analysis framework. Results: Three themes were extracted from data. 1) Institutionalization of empathy, indicating a need for incorporating empathy in undergraduate and postgraduate dental curriculum, 2) Barriers in the path of empathetic attitude, including a variety of factors hampering the development of empathy in a dentist-patient relationship and 3) Cultivating a Culture of empathy for better health care provision, indicating a need for changing the collective attitude of all health care professionals, administrative staff, and students. The participants of the study observed that development of empathy in a dentist-patient relationship includes a wide range of factors, ranging from curricular, personal, social, organizational, and cultural. These factors elaborate that empathy is a multidimensional phenomenon with roots deeply entrenched in professional and personal domains

Perception of Neurosurgical Residents about Learning in Operation Theatre in Tertiary Care Hospitals

OBJECTIVES To explore Neurosurgical postgraduate residents perceptions of their learning environment in operating rooms.METHODOLOGY From March 2022 to August 2022, this cross-sectional study will be carried out in the Department of Neurosurgery Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, and Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. The STEEM survey examined how surgical theatres were perceived as educational environments. After receiving informed consent, a printed questionnaire was provided to 32 surgical residents. SPSS 24 was used to conduct descriptive and inferential data analyses. RESULTS Thirty-one (31) of the 32 surgical residents that were surveyed (or 98.3%) answered. Residents' average age was 29.27 years (2.37); 27 were male, and 05 were female. Most residents were in their third (34.4%) and fourth (21.3%) years of residency. 147.66 (18.57) was the overall mean score. Participants' age and gender did not affect the mean scores; nevertheless, responses were statistically more favorable for residents in their first or fifth year of residency. Fifty-three locals responded favorably or positively overall. CONCLUSION Overall, residents had positive opinions of their training, their supervisors, the opportunities for learning in the operating room, the environment, and the monitoring they received

EFFECTIVENESS OF VARIOUS TEACHING METHODOLOGIES IN DEVELOPING CLINICAL REASONING SKILLS IN UNDERGRADUATE FEMALE MEDICAL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of “summarize, narrow, analyze, probing, management plan, select a topic” (SNAPPS) model, one-minute preceptor (OMP) and traditional clinical teaching in developing clinical reasoning skills of final year undergraduate female medical students in pediatrics clinical setting. METHODS: This randomized control trial was conducted at Department of Pediatrics, Peshawar Medical College from February to July 2016. Students were randomly distributed in three groups i.e. SNAPPS, OMP and traditional teaching with 20 students in each group. All 60 students were exposed to pre-test including 4 Key Feature Problems (KFPs). Students were then taught on pre-identified 4 topics with one topic /week by respective teaching methodology. Each topic was followed by post-test using 4 KFPs. The pre-test and post-test results were recorded and analyzed on SPSS-20. ANOVA was used as test for finding significance. RESULTS: All 60 female students of final year completed the study and none dropped out. The mean marks of pretest of three groups were 12.50±0.15 with minimum number of 4±1 marks and maximum of 23±1. There was no significant difference in pre-test among the groups using ANOVA (p = .984). However, significant difference (p< 0.001) was observed in post-test among groups after intervention. There was statistically significant difference (p<0.001) in favor of SNAPPS as compared to traditional teaching methodology. There was no significant difference between OMP and traditional method. CONCLUSION: SNAPPS is significantly more effective in improving clinical reasoning than OMP and traditional teaching method in female undergraduate medical students in pediatrics clinical setting

Perceptions and comparison of bedside teaching among final year students of public and private medical colleges of Peshawar

Introduction: Bedside teaching is an important but declining strategy in medical education. The regulatory authority’s insistence on structure of an institute needs be supplemented with quality of bedside teaching. The objective of this study was to find perceptions and compare bedside teaching among students of public and private medical colleges of Peshawar. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at four medical colleges of Peshawar during the month of February 2020. A Likert scale tool with 30 items and four subscales; physical environment, patient’s comfort and student attitude, teaching session and teaching fellow was filled by 242 students. Mean score for each question and each subscale was calculated for each institute for perceptions. Mean score of two public and two private institutes for each subscale was compared by unpaired t-test. Results: Physical environment mean score was highest at Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar (2.97±0.50). Patients’ comfort and students’ attitude mean score was approximately equal in four institutes. In teaching session, the highest mean score was reported by Khyber Girls Medical College and was lowest by Khyber Medical College. For teaching fellow, mean score was highest at Khyber Girls Medical College (3.70±0.67) and lowest at Kabir Medical College (2.85±0.55). For physical environment (public 2.87±0.48 vs. private 2.59±0.60) and teaching fellow scale (public 2.87±0.48 vs. private2.59±0.60) there was highly significant difference (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Mean score in four subscales are comparable in four institutes with some variation but there are significant differences between public and private institutes in physical environment and teaching fellow subscales. There are some consistencies and conflicts with regional and international literature. This needs in-depth qualitative exploration