Medical Students’ Perception and preferences on Methods of Anatomy Teaching- A survey between public and private institutes of Karachi, Pakistan

Anatomy is an essential and basic subject in the field of human sciences. The reforms and new teaching methodologies has been revolutionizing the world and helping the student in better understanding the anatomical landmarks and specific details in an interactive way. The present study evaluated the mode of anatomy teaching in public and private medical institutes of Karachi along with the opinion of students on the best teaching tool of anatomy. A total of 347 participants from private and public medical colleges of Karachi participated in the study. The data was collected by rotating questionnaires in the classrooms. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The mean age ± SD of our sample was 19.10 ± 0.77 years. In this study, majority of students from private sector institute were satisfied (58%) with the teaching methodology implemented for teaching Anatomy whereas, about (74%) participants from public sector institutes were not satisfied with the teaching methodology of teaching Anatomy. Students recommended that the use of Anatomy models may help in their better understanding of Anatomy. The present study indicates that public and private medical institutes were still using old multimedia based teaching methods of anatomy and the students were not very satisfied with the mode of teaching in their institutes. Amendments and reforms shall be implemented and efficacious teaching techniques should be applied taking into consideration the opinion of the students to bring out the best understaning in the field of Anatomy

ASSESSING STAFF REQUIREMENTS AND WORKLOAD PRESSURE AMONG DOCTORS WORKING IN OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF A PUBLIC SECTOR HOSPITAL IN PAKISTAN USING THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION’S WORKLOAD INDICATORS OF STAFFING NEEDS

OBJECTIVE: To assess the doctors’ requirement/workload pressure in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (DObGyn) of a public sector hospital for effective planning and management of human resources. METHODS: World Health Organization's Workload Indicators of Staffing Needs (WISN) tool was used in assessing the staffing requirements for doctors working in the DObGyn of a public sector hospital Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Information on working conditions and staffing was acquired by reviewing relevant documents and interviewing key informants. We obtained workload statistics from the hospital from January 1 to December 31, 2015. We assisted a senior technical expert working group in identifying workload components and activity standards, as well as validating both. RESULTS: The average working time needed by the doctors to perform ‘health service activities' was 1952 hours, for which 32 doctors are needed, while there are 36 doctors in the department. ‘Support activities’ accounted for about a fifth of the doctors' annual working hours (-category allowance standards=18.54%), for which 7 doctors were additionally needed. The ‘additional activities' required 3566 hours for which 2 additional doctors were needed. To perform all the three activities, there was a total need of 41 doctors. The workload pressure was also found to be high (WISN ratio: 0.87) on doctors. CONCLUSION: The health services, support and additional activities take up about significant part of the doctors’ time annually. This may require recruitment of a low-cost skill-mix of healthcare personnel to cope with the current workload and/or a health system thinking perspective to reduce the workload indirectly

Impact of environmental factors on COVID-19 cases and mortalities in major cities of Pakistan

Introduction: Climate factors play an important role in the transmission of viruses, such as influenza viruses, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-1. This study aimed to determine the relationship between changes in temperature, humidity, rainfall, and SARS-CoV-2 contagion. Five ecologically and climatically distinct regions were considered—Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Gilgit-Baltistan. Method: Data on daily COVID-19 cases and deaths were retrieved from government officials, while meteorological information was collected from Pakistan Meteorological Department.. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20 and the Spearman rank correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between the meteorological factors and COVID-19 cases and deaths. Result: Positive correlation of COVID-19 incidence was observed with all the temperature ranges (maximum, minimum and average) and negative correlation was seen with humidity, DTR and rainfall. COVID-19 deaths were positively associated with temperature and were negatively associated only with humidity. Linear regression showed that for every unit increase in humidity, there was a −3.345 daily significant decrease in COVID-19 cases, while in Karachi for every unit increase in humidity, there remained a 10.104 daily significant increase in cases. In Gilgit-Baltistan, for every unit increase in average temperature and rainfall respectively, significant increases of 0.534 and 1.286 in daily cases were found. Conclusion: This study signifies the effect of climate factors on COVID-19 incidence and mortality rate, but climate factors are not the only variable and several other interlinked factors enhance the spread of COVID-19. Hence, effective mitigation policies, enhancing testing capacities, and developing public attitudes toward adopting precautionary measures are important to overcome this overwhelming pandemic

Real-Time Surveillance of Dog Bite Incidence in Islamabad: A Cross-Sectional Study from December 2019 to July 2020

Rabies is a neglected viral zoonotic disease with an almost 100% fatality rate. A pilot project was initiated by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, in collaboration with Health Security Partners (HSP) to establish a real-time dog bite surveillance in humans in public sector secondary care hospitals of Islamabad. The main objective of this study was to analyze different characteristics of dog bite cases, identify gaps in surveillance, and recommend suggestions to improve and strengthen real-time dog bite surveillance systems. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in two major public sector hospitals in Islamabad from December 2019 to July 2020. Data on demographic information, site of the dog bite, category of the dog bite, and treatment was collected via a WVS mobile-based application. Descriptive analysis was carried out for different variables at a p-value of <0.05. A total of 338 dog bite cases were captured in the World Veterinary Service (WVS) application, and most cases (n = 226, 85.6%) were reported in December 2019 with a male-to-female ratio of 2:1. Most cases were reported from the age group of 22 to 31 years (n = 178, 53%). Out of the total number of cases, 263 (78%) presented with a single anatomical location, and 174 (51%) had Category II wounds. All dog bite patients were given only the first dose of the anti-rabies vaccine at the hospital level. Real-time dog bite surveillance via a mobile-based application proved to be effective for the timely recording and management of dog bite cases. Young people were reported to be mostly affected by dog bites, and nearly half of the cases were managed in hospitals. Refresher training was conducted for medics and paramedics for mobile-based applications, dog bite management, and proper referral of cases to tertiary care hospitals