Task Oriented Assessment of Clinical Skills (TOACS): A Modified Form of OSCE.

College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan (CPSP) is a premier postgraduate medical institution of the country. It introduced Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in the 1990s, and later came up with its modified form known as Task Oriented Assessment of Clinical Skills (TOACS). This modified assessment has been incorporated in clinical examinations of its majority fellowship programmes. Despite the use of TOACS for so many years at CPSP, it is surprising to note that this form of assessment does not appear in the literature. The objective of this viewpoint is to describe the rationale for the development of TOACS and to compare its structure and functions with OSCE. Key Words: Medical education, Assessment, Objective Structured Clinical Examination, Interactive, Task Oriented Assessment of Clinical Skills.

Balancing the Scale: Reconsidering the Overemphasis on Electronic Scaling in Dentistry.

Null.

Optimum Working Hours for College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan Fellowship Residents of General Medicine and General Surgery Disciplines.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the optimum working hours per week for CPSP trainees of Fellowship Programmes in the disciplines of General Surgery and General Medicine. STUDY DESIGN: Mixed-methods, explanatory study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of General Medicine and Department of General Surgery, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, from February to August 2023. METHODOLOGY: The total number of subjects included were 33 residents, 7 supervisors (4 from General Medicine and 3 from Geneneral Surgery), and 3 hospital managers (from private sector), constituting a representative sample. Postgraduate trainees (PGTs) of third-and fourth-year FCPS training programme who showed willingness to participate were included as were all supervisors and hospital managers involved in the training programme. FCPS residents, who were not willing, on leave, and on rotation to other departments were excluded, as were PGTs enrolled in university and other programmes. For quantitative analysis, survey forms were distributed to the selected participants. For qualitative analysis, one-to-one interviews were conducted in-person and through video-link. Data collection procedure included distribution by hand and via email. SPSS was used for the data analysis. RESULTS: All residents recorded that duty stress, fatigue, and burnout resulted in poor quality of family and social life. All the stakeholders were convinced that acquisition of skills, learning outcomes, and patient safety with optimum care is compromised. The duration of emergency calls varied from 30 to 36 hours. There were 19 out of 33 residents (57.5%) who recommended 24 hours of rest after each emergency call. All the supervisors recommended six to eight daily duty hours and 66 to 90 weekly working hours. Four out of seven supervisors (57.1%) suggested emergency duty of 30 hours with post-call rest of 24 hours at every 3rd  day. CONCLUSION: There is a need for a comprehensive approach that caters to the patient care as well as learning outcomes and residents' well-being when devising the duty schedules. KEY WORDS: Training hours, Fellowship programme, Fatigue, Learning outcomes.

Comparison of stress levels among medical and dental students in the clinical years of training and their coping strategies.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the stress levels among medical and dental students and to evaluate their coping strategies. METHODS: The cross-sectional comparative study was conducted at the Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry, Karachi, from January to February 2018, and comprised medical students from 3rd, 4th and 5th years, and dental students of 3rd and 4th year. Cohen Perceived Stress Scale was used to collect data which was then analysed using SPSS 21. RESULTS: Of the 400 students approached, 281(70.25%) responded. There were 159(56.5%) medical and 122(43.4%) dental students. Also, 78(27.7%) students were males and 203(72.2%) were females. The stress level was moderate or high in 267(95%) students; 118(96.7%) dental, 149(93.7%) medical. Stress management strategies included meditation/praying 181(64.4%), spending some time to relax 180(64.1%) and sleeping 177(63%). CONCLUSIONS: Dental students had slightly higher stress level than medical students. The most common stress management strategy was meditation/praying.