Simulated patient videos to supplement integrated teaching in competency-based undergraduate medical curriculum.

The competency-based undergraduate medical curriculum in the preclinical years requires clinical topics to be taught using a linker clinical case for students to appreciate the clinical application of basic sciences. The objective of this study was to evaluate student and faculty satisfaction regarding the construct and delivery of an aligned and integrated curriculum that involved the use of linker clinical cases. We aimed at evaluating the perceptions and performance of students when paper cases were supplemented with a simulated patient (SP) video.

Simulation-based structured training for developing laparoscopy skills in general surgery and obstetrics & gynecology postgraduates.

Background: Simulation-based training is an important strategy for skill development in a competency-based curriculum, especially so for laparoscopic surgery given its unique learning curve, need for practice, and patient safety concerns. The study was conducted for postgraduates in two surgical disciplines in a medical college tertiary care center. The study evaluates the acceptability and utility of structured simulation-based training for laparoscopic skills.

COVID-19 pandemic and safety of taxi services: Looking beyond primary care.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a lifetime experience of 'Living within a pandemic' for the vast majority world over. Public health principles based on equity should be at the core of world's response to it. Service professionals such as taxi/cab drivers are no exception.

Qualitative Assessment of Learning Strategies among Medical Students Using Focus Group Discussions and In-depth Interviews.

Background: Globally, students with top academic performance and high intellectual capacity usually opt to study medicine. However, once students get enrolled, their academic performance varies widely. Such variations appear to be determined by various factors, one of them being types of learning strategies adopted by students.

Admission to Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Courses: Looking Beyond Single Entrance Examinations.

In India, a single national level entrance examination for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses has been introduced. This is largely an effort towards alleviating financial corruption in admission process, improving logistics and ease of examination for students, and resource-efficacy in conduct of examination. Unfortunately, the possible educational impact of such single high-stakes examination has not been overtly discussed.

Teaching and Assessing Communication Skills in Medical Undergraduate Training.

Good communication skills are essential for an optimal doctor-patient relationship, and also contribute to improved health outcomes. Although the need for training in communication skills is stated as a requirement in the 1997 Graduate Medical Education Regulations of the Medical Council of India, formal training in these skills has been fragmentary and non-uniform in most Indian curricula. The Vision 2015 document of the Medical Council of India reaffirms the need to include training in communication skills in the MBBS curriculum.

Teaching and Assessing Clinical Reasoning Skills.

Clinical reasoning is a core competency expected to be acquired by all clinicians. It is the ability to integrate and apply different types of knowledge, weigh evidence critically and reflect upon the process used to arrive at a diagnosis. Problems with clinical reasoning often occur because of inadequate knowledge, flaws in data gathering and improper approach to information processing.

Involving postgraduate's students in undergraduate small group teaching promotes active learning in both.

Background: Lecture is a common traditional method for teaching, but it may not stimulate higher order thinking and students may also be hesitant to express and interact. The postgraduate (PG) students are less involved with undergraduate (UG) teaching. Team based small group active learning method can contribute to better learning experience.

Competency-based Medical Education, Entrustment and Assessment.

The realization that medical graduates are failing to serve the health needs of the society has compelled the medical educationists and regulatory authorities worldwide to review the medical training. A medical curriculum oriented towards developing the key competencies that enable a fresh graduate to be delivering socially responsive health care is seen as a promising step towards alleviating this problem. This calls for a departure from the traditional approach of organizing the curricular components around educational objectives, to a competency-based approach for planning the curriculum.

Teaching and assessing professionalism in the Indian context.

Developing professional values and behaviour is an indispensable part of training of medicine. Societal values have changed and there are increasing reports of unprofessional behaviour by physicians. It is now agreed that professionalism must also be 'taught' besides being 'caught'.

Workplace based assessment: a step to promote competency based postgraduate training.

There has been an increasing emphasis on defining outcomes of medical education in terms of performance of trainees. This is a step beyond the description of outcomes in terms of competence that encompasses mostly potential abilities rather than the actual performance. The contextual adaptations and behavior judgments of the trainees are best assessed by a program of in-training assessment.

The quarter model: a proposed approach for intraining assessment of undergraduate students in Indian medical schools.

In-training Assessment (ITA) has the potential to test a wide range of competencies which are not testable by the year-end examination. However, despite high validity, educational impact and feasibility; its implementation is flawed. This paper proposes a quarter model of intraining assessment for implementation in the undergraduate medical curriculum in India.