The Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on Indian medical undergraduate students

Background and Aims: With the implementation of the COVID-19 lockdown, conventional teaching had to be replaced with online teaching, to ensure the continuity of medical education. This has impacted the clinical training of medical undergraduates. We aimed to explore their perceptions and differences before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey using a self-administered, retrospective pre-post questionnaire, was conducted among students from pre-final and final year between December 2020 and March 2021. Agreement scores with 15-items about the various domains of clinical training were recorded. Open-ended question was asked to know about the reasons for the students’ preferences. Chi-square test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to compare the proportion and medians respectively. Results: We received 1000 responses from students of 191 medical colleges {Median (IQR): 6 (2,10) per college}. Most (81.6%) opined that their experience with clinical training was better before COVID-19 lockdown, irrespective of the mode of teaching in clinical skills (P<0.001). In addition, despite being more comfortable, focused, and interactive, online clinical training could not offer interaction with patients, residents and colleagues. Students who had gone through in-person training during lockdown period also perceived disadvantages like limited exposure to patients, limited time for faculty to teach, and less time for clinical practice. Conclusion: The learning experiences of clinical training during COVID-19 lockdown were perceived as inferior than that before lockdown by the medical undergraduate students, irrespective of the mode of clinical training.

Stress, Anxiety, and Depression among Medical Undergraduate Students and Their Coping Strategies

Background. Students’ mental health deteriorates after they enter medical school and continues to deteriorate throughout their training. Every individual has a certain number of coping resources, and once these coping resources are challenged, mental illness usually results. Objective. We aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of depression, anxiety, and stress as well as coping strategies used by medical undergraduate students enrolled in Arsi University. Methods. Institution-based, cross-sectional design was conducted on 265 sampled medical students. Participants were selected by a systematic, random-sampling technique. Data were collected by pretested, structured, and self-administrated questionnaires. Afterwards, logistic regression analysis was employed, and statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05 . Results. In the present study, 5 questionnaires were rejected for incompleteness, resulting in a response rate of 98.1%. The mean age of the respondents was 22.03 (SD = 2.074) years. The current prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and stress were 52.3%, 60.8%, and 40.4%, respectively. The proportion of respondents who had extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress was 6.2%, 16.2%, and 2.3%, respectively. Depression was specifically associated with monthly income and residency. Anxiety was significantly associated with residency and educational level. Stress was associated with monthly income, educational level, and residency. The main coping strategy adopted by the respondents was religion with a mean (±SD) of 5.94 (1.85). The coping mechanisms of denial, substance use, behavioral disengagement, venting, and self-blame were significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusion. Overall prevalence rate of depression, anxiety, and stress is alarmingly high. Therefore, implementing stress reduction interventions and establishing a student counseling center are highly recommended.

Student-led seminar as a teaching learning technique to introduce first year medical undergraduate students to self-directed learning

: Student-led seminar (SLS) is an interactive peer-led teaching learning method which offers several advantages for both the student learners and the student tutors including helping the learners to develop self-directed learning (SDL) skills. The aim of this study was to analyze the perception of first year medical undergraduate students towards a recently conducted SDL module in Anatomy utilizing student-led seminars as the teaching learning technique. Participation in the study was voluntary and all 100 first year students consented to participate in the study. Informed consent was taken from the participants. The module was implemented across 2 sessions. In session 1, a clinical case scenario on Shoulder Joint was discussed. Students were then asked to identify knowledge gaps and brainstorm in small groups to formulate the learning objectives. Session 2 was conducted as a student-led seminar after a 6-day gap. Student perception was then obtained using a Google Forms based questionnaire.: Thematic analysis was conducted for the responses. Major themes that emerged were that the participants learnt, enjoyed and felt motivated. Students appreciated the role played by the facilitators in guiding them and some of the respondents wanted to take up leadership roles for their teams in future sessions. As medical educators, we should not only encourage the acquisition of SDL skills by the learners but also provide a conducive environment for self-directed learning. To our experience the student-led seminar can be an excellent teaching-learning method for incorporating SDL skills among undergraduate medical learners.

Hurdles to Medical Research during Graduation and The Way Forward – A Graduate’s Perspective (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED History is replete with examples of noteworthy contributions by medical students. However, uptake of undergraduate research opportunities in India is reported to be disappointing, and little is known about the hurdles faced by students in undertaking research activities. This article provides an insight into the scope, hurdles and possible solutions with respect to pursuing research projects by medical undergraduate students.

The Prevalence and Severity of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress among Medical Undergraduate Students of Arsi University and Their Association with Substance Use, Southeast Ethiopia

Background. Mental problems can negatively impact physical and psychological well-being of junior medical students and predispose them to many unhealthy behaviors. Objective. We aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical undergraduate students of Arsi University and their association with substance use. Methods. Institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 265 sampled medical students. Participants were selected by systematic random sampling. Data were collected by a pretested self-administrative questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS-21 software. Logistic regression analysis was employed, and statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05 . Result. In the present study, 5 questionnaires were rejected for incompleteness giving response rate of 98.1%. The mean age was 22.03 (SD = 2.074) years. The current prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and stress were 52.3%, 60.8%, and 40.4%, respectively. The overall prevalence of khat chewing, cigarette smoking, and alcohol drinking was found to be 21.5%, 15.4%, and 33.8%, respectively. Depression was significantly associated with monthly income [AOR = 2.13], residency [AOR = 13.10], and alcohol drinking [AOR = 1.68]. Anxiety was associated with gender [AOR = 0.51], marital status [AOR = 0.46], educational year [AOR = 20.43], residency [AOR = 58.72], and cigarette smoking [AOR = 2.60]. Stress was significantly associated with monthly income [AOR = 2.21], educational year [AOR = 3.05], residency [AOR = 4.82], khat chewing [AOR = 1.90], and drinking alcohol [AOR = 1.84]. Conclusion. To sum up, depression, anxiety, and stress are common problems among medical students of Arsi University. Monthly income, residency, and alcohol drinking were identified as risk factors of both depression and stress. In addition to other mentioned factors, educational year and khat chewing were identified as risk factors of stress. However, gender, marital status, educational year, residency, and cigarette smoking were identified as risk factors of anxiety. Counselling and awareness creation are recommended.

Envisaging the Role of Residents as Teachers in the Training of Medical Undergraduate Students

The ideal way to improve the competence level of medical students is via teaching them and giving adequate exposure to the various clinical and ethical scenarios and supporting the same with reflection and constructive feedback.[1,2] In the current era of medical education, where a teacher finds it difficult to maintain equilibrium between their primary role of teaching and patient care, there is a definite scope and adequate evidence which calls for the use of students as peer educators for the mutual benefit of both the learners and the student teacher.[1,3] A near-peer teacher refers to those students who are senior to other trainees, nevertheless play an active role in teaching the junior students regardless of the fact that they are still not qualified content expert.[1-4]

Predictors of internet addiction among medical students of North India

Background The prevalence of internet addiction in India varies from 20% to 59% in undergraduate medical students. Therefore this study was planned to assess the prevalence, pattern and reason of internet usage and to assess predictors of internet addiction in medical undergraduate students.Material and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 201 medical undergraduate students in a medical college of North India from April 1st to May 31st, 2019.A self-designed semi-structured and pre tested questionnaire was used to know pattern and reasons associated with internet addiction (IA) and Dr. Kimberly Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) tool was used to measure level of IA. Discriminant analysis was used to assess predictors of internet addiction. Data was recorded in MS Excel and trial version of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 27.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) software was used for statistical analysis. Result Prevalence of internet addiction was found to be 90%, where prevalence of mild IA was 48.8% followed by moderate and severe IA, 38.8% and 2.4% respectively. Predictive accuracy of model based on socio-demographic, social media applications usage, Entertainment site usage, Educational site usage and final model were found to be 61.2%, 63.7%, 63.2%, 61.7% and 66.2% respectively.Conclusion Medical undergraduate students are highly vulnerable for internet addiction. We should create awareness among medical students regarding internet addiction and its potential harms; this could be included in foundation course of curriculum implementation support program (CISP) for MBBS students.

Comparison of knowledge level and attitude towards obstructive sleep apnoea amongst dental and medical undergraduate students of university sains Malaysia

BACKGROUND: Sleep apnoea is a diagnosed condition in which appurtenances interrupt breathing whilst sleeping. The consequence of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) includes road traffic accidents due to drowsiness, systemic hypertension, heart disease, diabetes mellitus and neurocognitive disorders. This condition extends the duration of recovery phase after traumatic brain injury. OBJECTIVE: This study was intended to assess the knowledge and attitude towards OSA and compare it among dental and medical undergraduate students of University Sains Malaysia (USM). METHODS: In this study, a total of 216 clinical undergraduate students (36 from each year; 108 from medical and 108 from dental school) of University Sains Malaysia (USM) Health campus were recruited for the study by non-probability stratified random sampling method. Total study period was October 2017 to October 2018. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the sociodemographic status and OSAKA questionnaire was used to assess knowledge and attitude regarding sleep apnoea of the respondents. Descriptive analysis was carried out to assess the knowledge and attitude of OSA amongst dental and medical undergraduate students of USM. The Mann–Whitney U test was carried out to compare the knowledge and attitude of OSA amongst dental and medical undergraduate students of USM. RESULTS: Our study findings revealed that 0.9 %and 6.5 %of the dental undergraduate students and medical undergraduate students could answer all the questions correctly regarding knowledge of OSA. Based on the assessment of the difference between medical and dental students in terms of knowledge towards OSA patients, significant difference was observed at the significance level of 95%, where p < 0.05 but no difference found in attitude towards OSA. However, significant difference was found towards attitude on treating OSA patients p < 0.05. CONCLUSIONS: A difference was observed in the knowledge and attitude on OSA between dental and medical undergraduate students in USM; however, medical undergraduate students had better knowledge and attitude towards OSA than dental students.