Knowledge, attitudes and practices of medical researchers toward authorship in scientific journals

Background: The knowledge, attitudes and practices of scientific authorship vary across different regions. We conducted this study to understand this variation among medical researchers in India.Methods: An anonymous web-based researcher-survey invited all faculty, researchers and PhD students at Pacific institute of Medical sciences, Udaipur, India. The study design and the questionnaire were approved by the institutional ethics committee.  Basic information on study was given to obtain consent for participation. The 30 questions on authorship experience and related issues were based on the statements in International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and other national and international recommendations on authorship. Participants reported their authorship experiences and answered multiple choice questionnaires.Results: The response rate was 36.36% among the participants, who were post-graduate with up to 10 years of research experience. About 62.5% had not been appropriately acknowledged as authors at some point during their career. Contributors (authorship) and ethical peer review is perceived as the key principle of research integrity. Though, single authorship was regarded as more significant, interdisciplinary management of diseases increases number of co-authors. A platform to challenge authorship, declaration of contribution in authorship and shared responsibility of co-authors in case of fraudulent publication was majority opinion.Conclusions: Almost 50 of the participant medical researchers had knowledge of formal authorship requirements. Majority agreed with the criteria would help in decreasing the authorship dispute in the medical research. There is need for awareness and continuous education on these criteria

Occurrence of depression, anxiety and stress among medical students working during COVID Pandemic

Background: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, medical students have been allotted various duties like rapid antigen testing, Sanjivani corona ghar seva (service provided by the government for home quarantine people), RTPCR swab collection, and posting in wards and intensive care units (ICUs). While executing the COVID-19 duties, students had a significant degree of a significant degree of ambiguity and apprehension. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychological impact of COVID-19 on medical students performing COVID-19 duties.Methods: A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional observational study was conducted among undergraduate and postgraduate students of a tertiary care teaching hospital, who were deployed on COVID-19 duty during pandemic. A google form-based questionnaire was structured, encompassing demographic details, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire and other (additional) COVID-19 duty related questions. The analysis of data was done by using unpaired t-test and chi-square test in Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0Results: In our research study, we found that occurrence of depression, anxiety, and stress was 40.46%, 48.37%, and 30.69% among the medical students during COVID -19 duty, respectively. Higher occurrence and more severity (p<0.01) of depression, anxiety and stress was seen in female medical students during COVID-19 duty in pandemic.Conclusions: We observed a higher occurrence of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students while performing their COVID-19 duty in a pandemic. Medical students played a significant role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, measures should be taken to ensure the psychological wellbeing of medical students.

Cross sectional observational study to assess the knowledge of drugs utilized in emergency medical conditions amongst medical interns and residents in tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Medical interns and residents are future medical professionals and as first-line responders, they may confront any type of emergency. Knowledge of pharmacotherapeutics (PTs) is the backbone of emergency care. Therefore, this study is designed to assess PTs’ knowledge and identify the lacunae in handling various medical emergencies among medical interns and residents.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational, questionnaire-based study. A self-structured questionnaire containing 30 close-ended questions, assessing the knowledge of drugs utilized in various medical emergency conditions was prepared and circulated in the form of a Google form. A credit score of “1” was given for each correct response. Grading of knowledge was done as “poor” (≤50%), “average” (>50-70%), and “adequate” (>70%-100%) The student’s unpaired t-test was used to analyse the data.Results: A total of 282 candidates responded, with 148 (52.48 %) interns and 134 (47.52%) residents. Participants had the least knowledge of PTs for anaphylactic shock. Participants’ knowledge of PTs was found to be adequate regarding the central nervous system and electrolyte disorders while average regarding toxicology, immunization, and endocrine system. Results suggested that residents (mean score: 21.42±5.06) were significantly (p=0.0165) more knowledgeable than interns (mean score: 19.96±5.08). Among respondents, 17.6% of interns and 13.4% of residents had poor performance while 45.9% of interns and 53.7% of residents had adequate performance.Conclusions: The current study provides valuable information regarding the state of PTs’ knowledge in medical emergencies among interns and residents, which can be used to improve undergraduate as well as postgraduate training.