Evaluating the effectiveness of \u27MCQ development workshop using cognitive model framework: A pre-post study

A workshop on MCQ development using cognitive model framework was conducted for health educators from Aga Khan University (AKU) and other academic institutions. The aim was to develop the skill of preparing MCQs for assessing higher cognitive levels. A pre-post study was conducted, participant satisfaction was evaluated and pre-post test scores were used to assess learning capability of the workshop participants. Out of the 19 who attended the workshop, 16 participated in the pre- and post-tests and were included in the study through convenience sampling. The total duration of the study was six months. There was a significant difference in the overall pre-post test scores of the participants with a mean difference of -4.176 ± 4.83 (p-value \u3c 0.05). A significant difference was observed in the mean pre-post test scores of junior faculty (-6.350± 4.5829; p-value = 0.02). The mean pre-test scores of junior faculty were significantly lower 4.950±2.83 as compared to the senior faculty 10.417±1.56 (p-value= 0.001). Active participation in faculty development workshops may lead to enhancing skills for preparing one-best MCQs based on international guidelines

Workplace based assessment: Tools to assess competencies in a clinical setting

The apprenticeship model has been used for long in surgical training. It initially provides opportunity to the trainee to observe the attending surgeon, followed by gradual introduction to surgical technique under direct supervision and later with detached supervision. The attending provides informal feedback at different intervals to the trainee. Several changes have been made in postgraduate programmes with a shift towards using workplace-based assessment tools for formative and summative evaluation of the trainee\u27s clinical skills

Bedside teaching: An indispensible tool for enhancing the clinical skills of undergraduate medical students

Bedside clinical teaching, an important component of clinical training, was widely practised during the 1960s and early 1970s, but has since declined significantly. It is considered a valuable tool in medical education by both students and faculty members. Its frequently delivered by consultants, but junior doctors seem to be more engaged in this form of clinical teaching, and their value in this respect is becoming more widely recognised. With the current demands placed on the time of consultants, junior doctors are being considered a valuable resource for conducting bedside teaching. It has generally been observed that students want more bedside teaching sessions and some consultants are willing to facilitate more sessions and are of the opinion that these sessions have more educational value in terms of learning different clinical skills, but due to timeconstraints and other administrative workload, bedside teaching has been declining and disappearing from the medical curricula. So, there is a need to bring significant changes at institutional as well as hospital levels. The current review article was planned to highlight the significance of bedside teaching sessions as a unique educational tool, strategies to improve bedside teaching and different bedside teaching models to be applied in a clinical setting. Databases searched included Cardiff University Library Catalogue, PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct

Assessment during Covid-19: Quality assurance of an online open book formative examination for undergraduate medical students

Background: The spread of COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 compelled all the educational activities, including medical education to be shifted from face-to-face interaction to a virtual platform. This shift provided opportunities for exploring online assessment modalities. One such assessment method is an online open book exam which is a unique concept in medical education of Pakistan. Limited information is available in literature regarding open book exam for the basic science subjects. Hence, the objective of the study was to determine the quality of the open book exam administered as a pilot project to the first-year medical students.Methods: It was a cross-sectional analytical study that included 99 students of first year MBBS. The students were administered an online unrestricted type of open book exam as a formative assessment. The exam consisted of 30 open-ended, short answer type questions. The scores of the exam were analyzed for psychometric quality.Results: The mean score was 47.24 ± 15.30 SD %. The reliability of the exam was 0.79. The majority (66.6%) of items were found to be moderately difficult with their difficulty index ranging from 31 to 80%. The majority (86.6%) items were in the range of moderate to high discrimination. There were no questions with negative discrimination.Conclusions: The exam was found to be reliable and can be implemented with training of faculty and students. Online open book exam provides a good format for remote and formative assessment of students with minimum proctoring during times of constraints such as COVID-19 pandemic

Experiences of undergraduate medical, nursing students and faculty regarding flipped classroom: A mixed method study at private medical university in Pakistan

The \u27flipped classroom (FCR)\u27 is a teaching pedagogy where students are actively involved in the learning process. It reduces passivity, enables students to become active learners through reasoning and concept application and facilitates student interaction with their peers and instructors. This instructional approach enhances retention and decreases distraction by engaging students.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to train the faculty of the medical college and school of nursing in developing FCRs as an innovative teaching and learning strategy, to facilitate them in conducting flipped sessions for their students and to explore the experiences of medical, nursing students along with faculty members regarding the FCR they had attended and conducted.Setting: Private medical college.Participants: A total of 442 students from medical college and school of nursing and midwifery participated in the evaluation survey with a female to male ratio of 339:103. Students who attended the flipped class sessions were included in the study sample. Students who did not complete the forms were excluded from the study. Nine faculty members who attended the workshop, agreed to facilitate the FCR session were invited to participate in the focus group discussion.Results: Both medical and nursing students found FCR format stimulating. A significantly higher proportion of medical students (73%) found the FCR more engaging and interesting than a traditional lecture as compared with nursing students (59%) (p=0.009). Similarly, 73% of medical students believed the learning objectives of both the non-face-to-face and face-to-face sessions were shared with them as compared with the 62% of nursing students who believed the same (p=0.002). A significantly higher proportion of medical (76%) versus nursing (61%) students found the FCR format more useful for application of their theoretical knowledge into clinical practice (p=0.030).Conclusion: Students found the FCR more engaging and interesting in terms of applying theoretical knowledge into practice. Similarly, faculty found this strategy as effective but challenging in terms of involving and engaging students in the learning process. It is recommended to conduct more FCR sessions for an interactive and student-centred learning, but proper planning of the session and using variety of technological tools to engage learners is a key to success