Grooming Future Doctors With Research Based Medical Curriculum

Content of the medical curriculum is the hottest issuewhich is confronted by most of the educationist, both indeveloped and developing countries. Traditional medicalcurricula were designed in such a vogue that studentshould take benefit of the knowledge of the earlierphysicians and then apply the same to treat his patientwhile stressing on memorization of the differentialdiagnosis, as suggested by the senior physician, basedon their experience. This approach focused on trainingthe future doctors to apply the already searched knowledgein the field without thinking critically about the otherunknown factors influencing the outcome of the treatmentand based on long didactic lectures

Health Problems of Children in Women Jail (Karachi)

Objective:The purpose of this study was to assess the health status & problems of children in women jail Karachi. Methods:A cross sectional study was carried out in Women Jail which is part of Central Jail, Karachi. Convenient sampling technique was adopted and the data was collected through interview of mothers and anthropometric measurements of the children. Results: There were 22 children in jail and male to female ratio was same. Analysis of the data indicated that 54.5% children were exclusively on breast feeding up to 4-6 month and were given homemade food at weaning. Eighty two percent of children were born by normal delivery, 68.2% children suffered from different illnesses and most of them had frequent attacks of diarrhea. Children faced a lot of problems Moreover they had no recreational facility and separate area, to avoid mixing with criminals. Hence the living conditions of the children were not acceptable. Most of the mothers (66.7%) were uneducated, 57.1% mother had 3-4 children, 54.5% mothers had received tetanus toxoid vaccination during pregnancy. Sixty eight percent (68.2%) mothers received antenatal care in jail. Conclusion: It was concluded that the living conditions were not suitable for the physical and the social growth of the children in women jail. Immediate measures should be taken to handle these problem

School-based strategies for oral health education of adolescents- a cluster randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Oral health education (OHE) in schools has largely been imparted by dental professionals. Considering the substantial cost of this expert-led approach, the strategies relying on teachers, peer-leaders and learners themselves have also been utilized. However the evidence for comparative effectiveness of these strategies is lacking in the dental literature. The present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of dentist-led, teacher-led, peer-led and self-learning strategies of oral health education.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A two-year cluster randomized controlled trial following a parallel design was conducted. It involved five groups of adolescents aged 10-11 years at the start of the study. The trial involved process as well as four outcome evaluations. The present paper discusses the findings of the study pertaining to the baseline and final outcome evaluation, both comprising of a self-administered questionnaire, a structured interview and clinical oral examination. The data were analyzed using Generalized Estimating Equations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All the three educator-led strategies of OHE had statistically higher mean oral health knowledge (OHK), oral health behavior (OHB), oral hygiene status (OHS) and combined knowledge, behavior and oral hygiene status (KBS) scores than the self-learning and control groups (p<0.001). The mean OHK, OHS and KBS scores of the three educator-led strategies did not differ significantly. The peer-led strategy was, however, found to have a significantly better OHB score than the respective score of the teacher-led strategy (p<0.05). The self-learning group had significantly higher OHB score than the control group (p<0.05) but the OHK, OHS and KBS scores of the two groups were not significantly different.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The dentist-led, teacher-led and peer-led strategies of oral health education are equally effective in improving the oral health knowledge and oral hygiene status of adolescents. The peer-led strategy, however, is almost as effective as the dentist-led strategy and comparatively more effective than the teacher-led and self-learning strategies in improving their oral health behavior.</p> <p>Trail registration</p> <p>SRCTN39391017</p