Preventive vaccination compliance among medical students and pediatricians during the COVID-19 pandemic

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has become a strength test for the national healthcare systems and medical professional communities. The pandemic gave a revealing insight into the provision of resuscitation care, a shortage of personnel and protective equipment, and the lack of effective drugs to treat a novel, poorly studied infection. Objective. To identify the attitude towards immunoprophylaxis in general and against the coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in particular among medical students and pediatricians and to assess the dynamics of compliance to vaccination in these groups. Materials and methods. The survey was conducted among the 5-6-year students of the medical and pediatric faculties of the Ryazan State Medical University (RSMU) of the Ministry of Health of Russia in 2017 and 2021, the groups of students included 250 and 225 people, respectively. The children’s polyclinic pediatrician groups included 45 and 60 people in 2017 and 2021, respectively. The survey was conducted anonymously, face-to-face, and without compulsion. The identical questionnaires asked students 13 questions and pediatricians 10 questions with suggested response options. Results and discussion. The percentage of students who correctly named the number of vaccine preventable diseases in the National Immunisation Schedule has significantly decreased; the number of students who were not aware of the availability of the chickenpox vaccine has increased by 1.9 times. In 2021, the number of students giving priority to domestic vaccines decreased by 2.3 times, and the number of those choosing imported drugs as better and safer ones has increased by 1.5 times. In 2021, the number of senior students who were vaccinated against influenza doubled as compared to 2017. At the same time, the students agreed to recommend their patients to be vaccinated against influenza 1.4 times more often. During the 2021 pediatrician survey, the number of respondents, who preferred imported vaccines as better and safer ones, increased by 4 times, and the number of domestic vaccine advocates decreased by 1.8 times. In addition, the number of pediatricians who did not decide on this issue has increased by 9.8 times. Сonclusion. The results of the survey showed that there is still a lack of compliance to vaccine prophylaxis in certain groups of the professional medical community. The student cohort showed a decrease in knowledge and confidence in the vaccine prophylaxis. Among practitioners, there has been a positive trend towards an increase in the percentage of pediatricians, who considered it expedient to vaccinate children with chronic pathology.

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Characterization of the Diagnostic Performance of a Novel COVID-19 PETIA in Comparison to Four Routine N-, S- and RBD-Antigen Based Immunoassays

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics11081332 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 1332

Author(s):

Alexander Spaeth ◽

Thomas Masetto ◽

Jessica Brehm ◽

Leoni Wey ◽

Christian Kochem ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Immune Response ◽

Cross Reactivity ◽

Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽

Chemiluminescence Immunoassay ◽

Face To Face ◽

Comprehensive Comparison ◽

Broad Variety ◽

Viral Responses ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

High Consistency

In 2019, a novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan in the province of Hubei, China. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) quickly spread across the globe, causing the neoteric COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is commonly transmitted by droplet infection and aerosols when coughing or sneezing, as well as high-risk exposures to infected individuals by face-to-face contact without protective gear. To date, a broad variety of techniques have emerged to assess and quantify the specific antibody response of a patient towards a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we report the first comprehensive comparison of five different assay systems: Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (CLIA), Electro-Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (ECLIA), and a new Particle-Enhanced Turbidimetric Immunoassay (PETIA) for SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, we also evaluated the suitability of N-, S1- and RBD-antigens for quantifying the SARS-CoV-2 specific immune response. Linearity and precision, overall sensitivity and specificity of the assays, stability of samples, and cross-reactivity of general viral responses, as well as common coronaviruses, were assessed. Moreover, the reactivity of all tests to seroconversion and different sample matrices was quantified. All five assays showed good overall agreement, with 76% and 87% similarity for negative and positive samples, respectively. In conclusion, all evaluated methods showed a high consistency of results and suitability for the robust quantification of the SARS-CoV-2-derived immune response.

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1112. #EducationInTheTimeofCOVID: Using Twitter to Disseminate Evidence-Based Medicine during a Pandemic

Open Forum Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/ofid/ofaa439.1298 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S586-S587

Author(s):

Caroline G Coleman ◽

Timothy T Daugherty ◽

Yooree G Chung ◽

Angel X Xiao ◽

Amy C Sherman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Health Professionals ◽

High Volume ◽

Clinical Syndrome ◽

Medical Community ◽

Accurate Information ◽

Teaching Aids ◽

Twitter Analytics ◽

Large Audience ◽

Based Medicine

Abstract Background The medical community has used Twitter as a learning tool during the COVID-19 pandemic to digest the high volume of rapidly evolving literature. However, Twitter contains educational content of varying quality and accuracy. To address this issue, we created and disseminated visual abstracts of COVID-19 literature on Twitter to educate health professionals. Methods Fellows and faculty members from multiple institutions collaborated with Emory University medical students to create visual abstracts of published COVID-19 literature (Figure 1). ID fellows and faculty identified and summarized 10-15 high-impact COVID-19 articles each week. Medical students created visual abstracts for each article, which fellows or faculty reviewed for accuracy. We disseminated them on Twitter (@JenniferSpicer4, 4,373 followers) and our website (Figure 2). We measured engagement with tweets using Twitter Analytics. Figure 1: COVID-19 Visual Abstract Example Figure 2: Website hosting COVID-19 weekly literature summaries and visual abstracts (https://med.emory.edu/departments/medicine/divisions/infectious-diseases/covid19-roundup/) Results Since March 2020, we have created, reviewed, and disseminated 139 graphics with 116 student authors and 33 fellow/faculty reviewers across three academic institutions (Table 1). Topics included public health & prevention, virology & basic science, epidemiology, transmission & infection control, clinical syndrome, diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccinology, and ethics & policy. Tweets had a median of 9,300 impressions (interquartile range [IQR] 5,432-13,233) with 766 engagements (IQR 432-1,288) and an engagement rate of 8.6% (IQR 7.1%-10.0%) (Table 2). Each tweet had a median of 25 retweets (IQR 17-38) and 55 likes (IQR 34-81). A few tweets had significantly higher metrics; maximum values were 84,257 impressions, 9,758 engagements, 19.0% engagement rate, 239 retweets, and 381 likes. In addition to disseminating graphics on Twitter, we received requests to use them as teaching aids from multiple health professionals worldwide, and the visual abstracts have been translated into Spanish and disseminated on Twitter and Instagram via @MEdSinFrontera. Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of COVID-19 Visual Series Table 2: Twitter Metrics for COVID-19 Visual Series (as of 6/10/2020) Conclusion Engagement rates with our visual abstracts were high, demonstrating the power of Twitter. ID educators can use visual abstracts to summarize and disseminate accurate information to a large audience on social media, which is especially important in the setting of an emerging infection. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

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Indoor Environmental Quality in Dwellings and Lifestyle Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Russian Perspective

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18115975 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (11) ◽

pp. 5975

Author(s):

Vladimir Reshetnikov ◽

Oleg Mitrokhin ◽

Elena Belova ◽

Victor Mikhailovsky ◽

Maria Mikerova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

Environmental Quality ◽

Indoor Environmental Quality ◽

Lifestyle Behaviors ◽

Contagious Diseases ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Isolation Index ◽

Novel Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern, and as a response, public health authorities started enforcing preventive measures like self-isolation and social distancing. The enforcement of isolation has consequences that may affect the lifestyle-related behavior of the general population. Quarantine encompasses a range of strategies that can be used to detain, isolate, or conditionally release individuals or populations infected or exposed to contagious diseases and should be tailored to circumstances. Interestingly, medical students may represent an example of how the COVID-19 pandemic can form new habits and change lifestyle behaviors. We conducted a web-based survey to assess changes in lifestyle-related behavior of self-isolated medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then we analyzed the sanitary-hygienic regulations of the Russian Federation to determine the requirements for healthy buildings. Results showed that during the pandemic, the enforcement of isolation affects medical students’ lifestyle-related behavior and accompanies an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and healthy buildings are cutting-edge factors in preventing COVID-19 and NCDs. The Russian sanitary-hygienic regulations support improving this factor with suitable requirements for ventilation, sewage, waste management, and disinfection. Herein, assessing isolation is possible through the hygienic self-isolation index.

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Role of Laboratory Medicine in SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostics. Lessons Learned from a Pandemic

Healthcare ◽

10.3390/healthcare9070915 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (7) ◽

pp. 915

Author(s):

Irena Duś-Ilnicka ◽

Aleksander Szymczak ◽

Małgorzata Małodobra-Mazur ◽

Miron Tokarski

Keyword(s):

Molecular Biology ◽

Real Time ◽

Real Time Pcr ◽

Laboratory Medicine ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Diagnostic Methods ◽

Medical Community ◽

Medical Diagnostic ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Available Information

Since the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China, diagnostic methods in the field of molecular biology have been developing faster than ever under the vigilant eye of world’s research community. Unfortunately, the medical community was not prepared for testing such large volumes or ranges of biological materials, whether blood samples for antibody immunological testing, or salivary/swab samples for real-time PCR. For this reason, many medical diagnostic laboratories have made the switch to working in the field of molecular biology, and research undertaken to speed up the flow of samples through laboratory. The aim of this narrative review is to evaluate the current literature on laboratory techniques for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection available on pubmed.gov, Google Scholar, and according to the writers’ knowledge and experience of the laboratory medicine. It assesses the available information in the field of molecular biology by comparing real-time PCR, LAMP technique, RNA sequencing, and immunological diagnostics, and examines the newest techniques along with their limitations for use in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics.

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Aligning patient and physician views on educational pelvic examinations under anaesthesia: the medical student perspective

Journal of Medical Ethics ◽

10.1136/medethics-2020-106473 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. medethics-2020-106473

Author(s):

Sanjana Salwi ◽

Alexandra Erath ◽

Pious D Patel ◽

Karampreet Kaur ◽

Margaret B Mitchell

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Clinical Skill ◽

Medical Community ◽

Student Perspective ◽

Physician Perspectives ◽

Explicit Consent ◽

Pelvic Examinations ◽

Professional Guidelines

Recent media articles have stirred controversy over anecdotal reports of medical students practising educational pelvic examinations on women under anaesthesia without explicit consent. The understandable public outrage that followed merits a substantive response from the medical community. As medical students, we offer a unique perspective on consent for trainee involvement informed by the transitional stage we occupy between patient and physician. We start by contextualising the role of educational pelvic examinations under anaesthesia (EUAs) within general clinical skill development in medical education. Then we analyse two main barriers to achieving explicit consent for educational pelvic EUAs: ambiguity within professional guidelines on how to operationalize ‘explicit consent’ and divergent patient and physician perspectives on harm which prevent physicians from understanding what a reasonable patient would want to know before a procedure. To overcome these barriers, we advocate for more research on patient perspectives to empower the reasonable patient standard. Next, we call for minimum disclosure standards informed by this research and created in conjunction with students, physicians and patients to improve the informed consent process and relieve medical student moral injury caused by performing ‘unconsented’ educational pelvic exams.

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Changing Attitudes towards Occupational Medicine with Blended Learning Methods Is Possible among Medical Students in Spain: A Longitudinal Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph19020878 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 878

Author(s):

Isabel Iguacel ◽

Begoña Abecia ◽

José Luis Bernal ◽

Begoña Martínez-Jarreta

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Medical Students ◽

Blended Learning ◽

Occupational Medicine ◽

Teaching Method ◽

Professional Performance ◽

Face To Face ◽

La Mancha ◽

Before And After ◽

Changing Attitudes

Medical students generally express a low interest in Occupational Medicine. We aimed to assess the attitudes and changes in attitudes of students towards this area after completing a course on Occupational Medicine in two Medical Universities in Spain (Zaragoza and Castilla-La Mancha). The teaching method included blended learning as a model that used online virtual patient platforms (CASUS) and/or EMUTOM, as well as traditional methods such as face-to-face teaching. A total of 526 students (98 of whom attended the University of Castilla-La Mancha) participated during three academic years (2015–2016, 2016–2017 and 2017–2018). The validation of the questionnaire was carried out using reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. For the analysis of internal consistency and discrimination, Cronbach’s alpha was used. The adequacy of the factor analysis was measured by means of KMO, and a correlation matrix was examined by means of Bartlett’s test of sphericity. To identify differences between students before and after completing the course, the Mann–Whitney U-test for independent samples was used. Our results show that despite a negative or neutral attitude towards Occupational Medicine, the acquisition of competences and skills in this area and their training were recognized as fundamental for their future professional performance as doctors in any specialty.

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PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS AND TEACHERS REGARDING ACADEMIC FAILURE OF UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN: A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION

Gomal Journal of Medical Sciences ◽

10.46903/gjms/18.02.826 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 54-58

Author(s):

Gul Muhammad Shaikh ◽

Rabia Khan ◽

Rehan Khan ◽

Rahila Yasmeen

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Attribution Theory ◽

Academic Failure ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Psychological Disturbance ◽

Related Factors ◽

Face To Face ◽

Medical Institutions ◽

University College ◽

Open Coding

Background: Academic failure adds extra pressure to emotional intelligence of students and this may lead to psychological disturbance. The objective of this study was to explore perception of students and teachers regarding academic failure of undergraduate medical students in Lahore, Pakistan. Materials & Methods: This qualitative exploratory study was conducted at Department of Medical Education, University College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Lahore, Pakistan from January 2018 to October 2018. Sample included nine MBBS students who took their last examination in year 2017 and five teachers, all from University College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Lahore. Sampling was purposive. These nine students included five who graduated without failure and four who experienced two/more failures. Medical students were interviewed via two focus groups, whereas face to face semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews were done for teachers. Interview questionnaires were designed on basis of attribution theory. The fundamental question of study was “What are the reasons behind undergraduate medical students’ failure in annual examination?” with five more questions. The interviews were transcribed in English and sent back to participants for member checking. The interviews were organized in ATLAS.ti software for thematic analysis based on Weiner’s Attribution Theory. Open coding was done after familiarization of data, leading to formation of categories, sub-themes and themes related to our conceptual framework. Results: 160 open codes were condensed to 35 axial codes leading to two themes. Main reasons for students’ failure in examinations perceived by both students and teachers were lack of ability, lack of effort and lack of motivation. Additionally, the students attributed bad luck to academic failure. Other factors included were teachers’ related factors, curriculum related factors and negative students’ attitude. Conclusion: Medical institutions must take into account reasons for academic failure among medical students and address those issues to improve their performance.

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Immunization competence retention in medical students: a comparation between conventional lectures and lectures with simulations method

Paediatrica Indonesiana ◽

10.14238/pi55.6.2015.339-44 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 55 (6) ◽

pp. 339 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hartono Gunadi ◽

Rini Sekartini ◽

Retno Asti Werdhani ◽

Ardi Findyartini ◽

Muhammad Arvianda Kevin Kurnia

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Control Group ◽

Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽

Before And After ◽

Quasi Experimental

Background Immunization is recognized as one of the strategiesto reduce vaccine preventable diseases. Competency related toimmunization are consequently important for medical students andthe medical school needs to assure the competence acquisition.Objective To assess competence related to immunization andits retention following lectures with simulations compared tolectures only.Methods A quasi-experimental study was conducted to the 5th yearstudents of University of Indonesia Medical School during the ChildAdolescent Health Module in 2012-2013. The intervention grouphad lectures with simulations and the control group had lecturesonly. Immunization knowledge was assessed with a 30 multiplechoice question (MCA) items performed before and after themodule. Competence retention was assessed by MCQ (knowledge)and OSCE (skills) 2-6 months afterwards.Results Sixty eight subjects for each group with similarcharacteristics were analyzed. There was significant differenceafter module MCQ score between two groups. Competenceretention in 2-6 months after module completion was betterin intervention group, both for the knowledge (median MCQscore of 70.00 (range 37-93) vs. mean score of 58.01 (SD 12.22),respectively; P<0.001) and skill (OSCE mean scores of 75.21 (SD10.74) vs. 62.62 (SD 11.89), respectively; P < 0.001). Proportionof subjects in the intervention group who passed both the MCQand OSCE were also significantly greater.Conclusion Lectures with simulations are proved to bemore effective in improving medical students’ immunizationcompetence as well as its retention compared to lectures onlyapproach.

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Disease burden of varicella versus other vaccine-preventable diseases before introduction of vaccination into the national immunisation programme in the Netherlands

Eurosurveillance ◽

10.2807/1560-7917.es.2019.24.18.1800363 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (18) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alies van Lier ◽

Brechje de Gier ◽

Scott A McDonald ◽

Marie-Josée J. Mangen ◽

Maarten van Wijhe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Herpes Zoster ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Immunisation Programme ◽

Current Approach ◽

Published Data ◽

Uncertainty Interval ◽

National Immunisation Programme ◽

Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽

National Immunisation ◽

Life Years

Introduction Estimating burden of disease (BoD) is an essential first step in the decision-making process on introducing new vaccines into national immunisation programmes (NIPs). For varicella, a common vaccine-preventable disease, BoD in the Netherlands was unknown. Aim To assess national varicella BoD and compare it to BoD of other vaccine-preventable diseases before their introduction in the NIP. Methods In this health estimates reporting study, BoD was expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) using methodology from the Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE)-project. As no parameters/disease model for varicella (including herpes zoster) were available in the BCoDE toolkit, incidence, disease progression model and parameters were derived from seroprevalence, healthcare registries and published data. For most other diseases, BoD was estimated with existing BCoDE-parameters, adapted to the Netherlands if needed. Results In 2017, the estimated BoD of varicella in the Netherlands was 1,800 (95% uncertainty interval (UI): 1,800–1,900) DALYs. Herpes zoster mainly contributed to this BoD (1,600 DALYs; 91%), which was generally lower than the BoD of most current NIP diseases in the year before their introduction into the NIP. However, BoD for varicella was higher than for rotavirus gastroenteritis (1,100; 95%UI: 440–2,200 DALYs) and meningococcal B disease (620; 95%UI: 490–770 DALYs), two other potential NIP candidates. Conclusions When considering the introduction of a new vaccine in the NIP, BoD is usually estimated in isolation. The current approach assesses BoD in relation to other vaccine-preventable diseases’ BoD, which may help national advisory committees on immunisation and policymakers to set vaccination priorities.

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Back to the medical classes-Part I- Strategy for return to the presential practices during COVID-19 pandemics in a Brazilian Medical School

10.1101/2021.10.14.21264918 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maria Auxiliadora Nogueira Saad ◽

Vinicius Cesar Jardim Pereira ◽

Arnaldo Costa Bueno ◽

Alan Araujo Vieira ◽

Maria de Fatima Pombo March ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Small Groups ◽

Private Health Insurance ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Face To Face ◽

Standardized Protocol ◽

Symptomatic Case ◽

Remote Training ◽

The Mean

Introduction: In Brazil, practices of medical students have been interrupted due to COVID-19 to meet emergency demands. Aim: To describe a strategy for a controlled return to the presential practices for medical students. Methods: We developed a standardized protocol to be applied before and during the return of the practical classes in medical students of Universidade Federal Fluminense, in the follow months after COVID-19 pandemic beginning. The protocol was comprised in three parts: Remote training on COVID-19 prevention; Face-to-face training focused in COVID-19 prevention, handwashing and personal protective equipment use; Investigation of students COVID-19 status before starting practical activities and weekly monitoring for COVID-19 during seven weeks. The training was done by medical teachers in small groups for medical students of the last lective semester. Results: The classes were interrupted on March 12, 2020 and returned in August 10, 2020. Seventy-one students were trained and followed. The mean age was 26.6 years (26.7 +/- 0.835) and 54% were female. Forty-nine (69%) students over 71 had a private health insurance, 60 (84.5%) shared a house/apartment with one or more person and 12(16.9%) reported a previous comorbidity. Eighteen (25.4%) over 71 reported previous symptoms of COVID-19, being positive in two students. During the follow-up, fourteen (19.7%) over 71 students were placed in quarantine due to signals/symptoms compatible with COVID-19 or contact with symptomatic case. Only two cases (2.8%) were confirmed and occurred in Brazilian epidemiological week 37. Conclusion: The protocol was successful in minimizing COVID-19 acquisition during practical classes of medical students.

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