Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) brought to the world, an unprecedented emergency, which dramatically affected the face-to-face teaching in higher education academia. University faculty and students had to shift overnight to an online and remote course instruction. They were neither trained nor prepared and had limited resources and infrastructure. Palliative Care and Oncology Stream Faculty at Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan, piloted an innovative academic project using telesimulation (TS). Trainee nurse interns were taught communication skills and the art of breaking bad news to palliative clients using the SPIKES model through TS. To incorporate best practices for simulation-based experiences, we used the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning to standardize and implement TS with 141 interns. This review article documents how the faculty planned and implemented the TS strategy during COVID-19. It outlines the challenges and the lessons learnt from implementation and feedback from faculty and students. This information could be useful in the future execution of TS, in any communication and counseling course, since COVID-19 has impacted the future educational course design and pedagogy worldwide.

This study explored fathers' perceptions about breastfeeding infants. A qualitative exploratory study design was used. Study setting was urban and semiurban areas of Karachi, Pakistan. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 fathers. The following themes emerged from the data collected: knowledge and awareness and enabling and impeding factors. Most fathers seemed eager to get involved and assist their partners in proper breastfeeding practices because they believed that doing so is in accordance with their faith. Fathers felt that adequate support from their family members and employers could enable them to encourage their partners to initiate and maintain exclusive and optimum breastfeeding practices. Exploring fathers' perception regarding breastfeeding in the context of Pakistan is still a new field of study.

This is an exploratory study that explores the experiences of lactating women in initiating, continuing, or discontinuing breastfeeding in an urban area of Karachi, Pakistan. Objectives. To explore the experiences of lactating women and to understand their support and hindering mechanisms in initiating and maintaining breastfeeding. Methods. This is an exploratory design assisting in exploring the participant's experiences of initiating and maintaining breastfeeding to better understand their world. Purposive sampling was used, and data was analyzed through manual thematic analysis. Results. The data revealed that mother's knowledge, sociocultural environment, breastfeeding decision, and self- and professional support acted as driving forces for the participants. However, sociocultural environment, physiological changes, time management, and being a housewife to breastfeed their children were all challenges and barriers that the participants thought hindered their breastfeeding initiation and maintenance. Conclusion. Breastfeeding is a natural but taxing phenomenon, and breastfeeding mothers experience supporting and hindering factors in initiating and maintaining breastfeeding.

Background: Providing end of life (EOL) care is a component of palliative care but dealing with dying patients and their family members is stressful for the healthcare providers. To prepare them for providing EOL care, the high-fidelity simulation could be used as a pedagogy in which real-life scenarios are used on the computerized manikins mimicking the real patients. Aims: The aim of this study was to measure the effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation to teach EOL care in the palliative nursing course in the undergraduate nursing education program at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Aga Khan University which is private university in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This study was approved by the ethics review committee of Aga Khan University. It was hypothesized that exposure to high-fidelity simulation will lead to an increased positive attitude in participants towards the care of dying. A quasi-experimental design was used. In line with the design, there was no control group. The same group of students ( n = 42) were assessed through Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) Part B assessment tool. Permission for using this tool was obtained from Dr. Katherine Frommelt, the author of this tool. Research participants filled this tool before and after the intervention, i.e., providing EOL care to a patient in a high-fidelity simulation lab. Results: Out of 30-FATCOD items, significant attitude change was detected on 11-items of which 8 were positively worded statements and 3 were negatively worded statements. As per the hypothesis, it was expected for the positively worded statements that the mean score for the posttest would be significantly greater than the pretest mean score (pretest score < posttest score). The hypothesis was proved for items 1, 4, 10, 18, 22, 25, 27, and 30 as their t -value was significant at 0.05 alpha value (one-tailed). For the negatively worded statements, it was expected that the mean score for the posttest would be significantly lower than the pretest (pretest score > posttest score). The hypothesis was proved for items 5, 6, and 11 as their t -value was significant at 0.05 alpha value (one-tailed). Conclusion: In this research teaching, EOL care through high-fidelity simulation had improved the attitudes of students toward providing care. This pedagogy also provided the participants with a learning opportunity to deal with their own emotions. These findings provide a way forward for teaching EOL and other complex skills of clinical practice.

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Aga Khan University (AKU) is implementing blended learning (BL)

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