Empathy is considered to be associated with better patient compliance, satisfaction, and clinical outcomes. The aim of the study is to measure and examine empathy among a sample of undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh. It was a cross-sectional study and all the medical students of first through fifth year enrolled at Chattagram Maa-O-Shishu Hospital Medical College during the study period of 2014 were surveyed. Participants anonymously completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy Medical Student version translated into Bengali language, a valid and reliable 20-item self-administered questionnaire. Principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were calculated to check validity and reliability of the scale. ANOVA was used to examine the differences in empathy between gender, academic years, and specialty preferences. The mean empathy score was 110.41 ± 13.59. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.88. There were significant associations between gender and empathy scores. The level of empathy in medical students gradually increases after clinical training in medical college. A nonsignificant difference was found between empathy scores and specialty preferences. It is suggested that the medical curriculum in Bangladesh should include more extensive program to promote empathy and other humanistic values among the medical students.

Background: Physicians formally receive education regarding antimicrobials and microbial resistance during a 5-6 year curriculum of the undergraduate medical program. However, the once magical bullet of antibiotics is now threatened by AR, which has become a significant hazard to global health. Thus, a doctor must possess the adequate knowledge to select an antibiotic or other drug for use in a particular disease. This issue is not currently being addressed in the undergraduate curriculum resulting in irrational prescribing. Therefore, it is essential to possess a comprehensive knowledge regarding drugs, including antimicrobials at an undergraduate level. Currently, there is no comprehensive evaluation of medical students' perception of AR in Bangladesh. This was the driving force to conduct this study and to identify gaps in KAP of medical students about AR, as well as to enrich the medical curriculum. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, randomized, questionnaire-based study. Data were collected using a validated instrument. Results: 107 students were selected using a quota sampling technique. A total of 107 participants (32.71% male and 67.29% female) attended the study. The response rate was 100%. Out of the cohort; 37.38%, 30.84%, and 31.78% were from the Year-III, Year-IV, and Year-V respectively. The participants felt more confident in 'Making an accurate diagnosis of infection/ sepsis.' Conclusion: Our study population found to be suffering from a lack of confidence partially due to a gap in their knowledge about the proper selection of antimicrobials.

BackgroundBacterial resistance due to antibiotic misuse is reported every day. Such threat calls for a consensus to develop new strategies to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance of bacteria. Medical doctors must play a pivotal role to control and prevent the misuse of antibiotics. There were complaints that prescribers are lacking behind in updates and advancement in the field. To address such knowledge gap, a study was conducted to know the views of interns on the current antibiotic resistance situation in a teaching hospital in Bangladesh.MethodsThis study was a cross-sectional, randomized, and questionnaire-based survey. Interns of the medicine, gynecology, and surgery departments of Chattagram Maa O Shishu Hospital Medical College were the study population.ResultsOut of 50 respondents, 98% would like more education on antibiotic selection. All respondents believed that prescribing inappropriate or unnecessary antibiotics was professionally unethical. Ninety percent of the participants were confident in making an accurate diagnosis of infection. Eighty-four percent of them were confident about dosage schedule. In all, 98% participants thought that antibiotic resistance is a national problem and 64% of the respondents thought that same problem also existed in their hospital. Study participants were of the view that 41%–60% of antibiotic usages are irrational in Bangladesh. Fifty-eight percent of the study population thought that antimicrobial resistance (AR) would be a greater problem in the future.ConclusionThe interns believe that there is a knowledge gap on AR. More emphasis should be given to AR and its implications in the undergraduate curriculum. Latest national and international guidelines for antimicrobial therapy and resistance should be made available to the interns.

Background: In order to improve the prescription quality and promoting rational prescription pattern, there is an obligatory need to investigate the factors that affect doctors' prescription patterns. The study was conducted to observe the antibiotics prescribing pattern at outpatient department of a tertiary medical college hospital. Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study in a tertiary medical college hospital during the period of January 2018 to June 2018 which was conducted on 300 prescriptions collected from different outpatient department. Results: Average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 3.70 (Optimal value 1.6–1.8). Antibiotics (Oral, injectable and topical) were prescribed 46% (Optimal value 20.0–26.8%) and antibiotic as only injected form 19.71% (Optimal value 13.4–24.1% of total injectable drug). Drugs prescribed from the Essential Drugs List( EDL) equated to 52.90% (Optimal value 100%). The antibiotics given in most of the patients ( 91%) were without doing culture sensitivity test before prescribing. Out of 46% prescriptions with antibiotics, 79.9% had one antibiotic, 19.6% included two antibiotics and 0.7% had three antibiotics. Cefuroxime was the most commonly prescribed antibiotics (22.5%) followed by Azythromycin (11.6%) Cefixime (11.5%) Ciprofloxacin (10.9%) Flucloxacillin (10.9%) and Metronidazole (8.7%). Conclusion: This study revealed that percentage of antibiotic was high and most of the antibiotic was given without culture and sensitivity. Chatt Maa Shi Hosp Med Coll J; Vol.17 (2); Jul 2018; Page 36-39

The present descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study was designed to establish the baseline measurements of the craniofacial anthropometrical parameters and indices of 100 adult Bangladeshi Buddhist Chakma females aged between 25 and 45 years, residing at different locations of Chittagong and Rangamati cities. A total of ten craniofacial variables were measured using physical and photographic procedures. Craniofacial indices were calculated from those craniofacial variables. The craniofacial indices showed that Chakma females are mostly hyperbrachycephalic, hypereuryprosopic, and mesorrhine, with intermediate eyes and long narrow ears.

Background: 'Self-Regulated Learning (SRL)' means one’s ability to organize and control their learning environment. Self regulated learners develop a deep understanding of subject matter which positively influences academic performance. On this basis, the present study is aimed to assess student’s anatomical 'SRL' strategies and to investigate whether anatomical 'SRL' can predict academic performance in Anatomy course. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The study group consisted of a convenient sample of 105 first year undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh who were learning Anatomy for last 6 months. The 'Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire' was used. Information regarding age, gender, medium they were studying prior entering into M.B.B.S course and their anatomy result was collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19. Results: The present data suggests that the study group was sufficiently motivated for learning in Anatomy as measured by intrinsic goal orientation, task value and self-efficacy of learning and performance. It also demonstrates that students who were more likely to use learning strategies such as rehearsal, elaboration, organization, peer learning and help seeking had higher levels of academic performance. Female students and those from Bangla medium reported more effective study habits. Conclusion: These results indicate that adopting SRL strategics are likely linked to Anatomy performance. Chatt Maa Shi Hosp Med Coll J; Vol.18 (1); Jan 2019; Page 10-13

Objective: The Internet is an essential component for providing current and up to date information in education. Despite the significant advantages, abuse of internet results in Internet addiction (IA) disorder. The present study aims to determine the level of IA and internet behavior pattern among medical and university students in Bangladesh. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among 379 students in Bangladesh from one private medical college and one private university of Chittagong during the study period from 2017 to 2018. Analysis for throughput, "Young's IA test (IAT)'' was used. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the independent t-test and oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA) were utilized and P<0.05 as significant. Results: The mean± SD of "IAT" score was 47.97±13.61. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.83. The majority (54.88%) of the participants was "mild user''. The majority (63.39%) of the medical students was "mild user,'' and the majority (61.60%) of the university students were "moderate user." Statistically, a significant difference was found between "IAT" score and "Duration of internet use" of the medical and university students (p = 0.00). A significant difference was observed between age, sex, and IA. The majority (86.61%) of medical students used the internet for social networking, and the majority (71.2%) of university students used the internet for education purpose. Maximum participants use "Smartphone" and "mobile 3G" and had an email address and a social network account. Conclusions: Early detection of internet dependence could help to take appropriate steps to tackle the growing problem of IA.

Background: In order to improve the spontaneous Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) reporting practice by the physicians, there is an obligatory need to investigate the current situation of ADR reporting by them. The study was conducted to observe the ADR reporting pattern among physicians in a tertiary medical college hospital. Materials and methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study carried out in a tertiary medical college hospital during the study period of March 2020 to October 2020. Data were collected from 100 physicians working on different departments using self designed pretested questionnaire by convenient sampling technique. Results: Among the 100 respondents 70 provided response to questionnaire giving a response rate 70%. Most of the respondents (61.43%) had adequate knowledge on ADR reporting. A good number of respondents showed positive attitude but there is no practice of ADR reporting though most of the respondents (84.3%) had experienced it in last 1 year. Most of the respondents experienced ADR with antibiotic (81.35%), NSAIDs (33.89%) & anticonvulsants (15.25%) and maximum (44.06%) experienced ADR was with skin, 30.50% with GIT and 23.03% with respiratory system involvement. The cause of under reporting was mainly due to inaccessible ADR form, busy schedule, unaware of how and whom to report and lack of motivation to report. The respondents would be encouraged to report ADR if they were provided with simple & available reporting form, regular guideline & bulletin. Conclusion: There is an urgent need for educational training & seminar regarding our national online reporting system to emphasizing ADR reporting. Chatt Maa Shi Hosp Med Coll J; Vol.20 (2); July 2021; Page 8-13