Purpose: This study focuses on assessing the effectiveness of near-peer teaching, small group discussions, and hands-on assignments in enhancing the scientific writing knowledge & skill of a cohort of Indian medical students.Method: 175 medical students were randomly selected from a 516 membered FORLER (Fundamentals of Research Learning and Educational Reform) interest cohort for hands-on near-peer training in medical scientific writing. The participants attended weekly near-peer lectures and participated in biweekly in-group discussions over 5 weeks focused on Narrative Reviews, Original Articles, Case Reports, Short Communications, & Systematic Reviews. Participants were regularly evaluated following Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluating training.Results: N=135 medical students aged 20 ± 1.3 yrs (17-23 yrs); 56.29% females completed all the assignments in FORLER. Amotivation decreased & attitude towards research improved significantly (p<0.05) after the workshop. The theoretical understanding of the students of all 5 forms of scientific writing improved significantly. A significant (p=0.047) moderate direct (P=0.639) correlation was also observed between the increase in confidence and overall increase in test scores. Post-FORLER manuscripts were scored significantly (p<0.05) higher (by expert double-blind reviewers) than pre-FORLER manuscripts in all forms of scientific writing except Case reports.Conclusion: A combination of near-peer teaching, small group discussions, and manuscript writing exercises lead to a statistically significant increase in scientific writing knowledge and skills. Higher confidence levels were reported after the training initiative. A decrease in amotivation was also observed with participants favoring integration of similar initiatives into the undergraduate training framework.
Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. India achieved elimination at the national level in 2005. But it still had world’s leprosy burden in 2015 and currently has a prevalence rate of 0.81 per 10,000. The aim of our study was thus to identify the risk factors associated with the development of leprosy and assess their effect on the treatment outcome of the disease, especially in a low endemic state like Punjab.Methods: A retrospective study conducted across Punjab by assessing the medical records of 55 leprosy admissions that were diagnosed, treated, and monitored at a tertiary hospital and those living in leprosy homes, from a time period of 2015 to 2018. Data was analysed using SPSS 25 software and presented in the form of figures and percentages.Results: Maximum number of leprosy patients under study belonged to upper lower socioeconomic class (46.2%) according to The Modified Kuppuswamy Scale. 48.7% of the patients were migrants to the state of Punjab. Overall, 24 patients (61.5%) were successfully treated. 20.5% were relapse cases while 7.7% default and 2.6% failure cases were seen.Conclusions: This study shows the current status of disease in an otherwise low endemic state. Leprosy is associated with a lower socioeconomic status due to lesser access to health services and lower levels of education. The high rate of disease, lower case reporting and treatment outcomes, as compared to the national averages is a cause for alarm thus more health seeking practices need to be encouraged.
We commend the article titled "Ethics of organ transplantation" by Sanjay Nagral for raising awareness about organ donation, especially kidney transplants, and shedding light on the Indian scenario. In this article, the author mentions that "If we wish to improve upon the current situation, the first step is total transparency on the part of the medical profession and open, public, debate on this and related issues."
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