Correction: Validity and reliability of the Professionalism Assessment Scale in Turkish medical students.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281000.].

Validity and reliability of the Professionalism Assessment Scale in Turkish medical students.

Medical professionalism is a basic competency in medical education. This study aimed to adapt the Professionalism Assessment Scale, which is used to evaluate the professionalism attitudes of medical students, into Turkish and to assess its validity and reliability. First, the scale's translation-back-translation was performed and piloted on 30 students. Then, the final scale was applied to medical students to ensure the scale's validity. The Penn State University College of Medicine Professionalism Questionnaire was used for external validation to assess criterion validity. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed for structure validity. Test-retest, item correlations, split-half analysis, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were evaluated to determine the scale's reliability. SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0 package programs were used for statistical analysis. The statistical significance level was accepted as P<0.05. The mean age of the participants was 21±2 years, and 50.5% (n = 166) were female. Three hundred thirty-five students were invited, and 329 participated in the study. The response rate was 98%. The mean total Professionalism Assessment Scale score was 96.36±12.04. The three-factor structure of the scale, "empathy and humanism," "professional relationship and development," and "responsibility," was confirmed. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.94, and both the Spearman-Brown and Guttman split-half coefficients were 0.89. The three-factor structure of the scale, consisting of 22 items, explained 59.1% of the total variance. The intraclass correlation coefficient between test-retest measurements was 0.81. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a model suitable for the original version of the scale (χ2/sd = 2.814, RMSEA = 0.074). The Turkish version of the Professionalism Assessment Scale is a valid and reliable tool to determine the professionalism attitudes of medical students in Turkey.

The knowledge level and perceptions toward COVID-19 among Turkish final year medical students.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has upended medical education as well as the lives of healthcare professionals. Higher education institutions have a crucial role in the solution of public health problems by training young doctor candidates, and it is also essential to increase the knowledge level of physician candidates about the epidemic. So, in this study, we aimed to examine Turkish final year medical students' knowledge level and perceptions toward the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The present descriptive multicentered study was conducted with the medical students in the final year of six medical schools located in six geographic regions of Turkey. After ethical approval, data were gathered using an online questionnaire through Google forms between 10 April 2020, and 20 April 2020. RESULTS: In this national survey study, 860 volunteers answered the questions thoroughly. The median age was 24 (22-38) years. A total of 55.3% of the participants were female. The median knowledge level score was 69.0 (0-93.1). The knowledge level was moderate. A total of 34.2% of the participants had a high level of knowledge. A total of 48.7% of participants stated that they felt the most competent about performing CPR. Updates about COVID-19 were followed regularly by 84.5% of the participants. CONCLUSION: We determined that final year medical students are knowledgeable and aware of this pandemic. We, medical educators, should inculcate relevant knowledge and educate the medical students to improve practices in the current pandemic, as well as for future epidemics. Different learning techniques should be added to the curriculum, especially at the time which widespread panic and uncertainty are prevalent.

Global Alert: Zika Virus-an Emerging Arbovirus.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arbovirus of the Flavivirus genus, and it has an envelope and a single RNA molecule. In early 2016, the World Health Organization declared ZIKV infection to be an emerging global health threat. The major transmission route of the virus to humans is Aedes mosquitoes. ZIKV can be transmitted between humans by transplacental, perinatal, and sexual routes and via blood and body fluids. ZIKV infection usually results in a mild and self-limiting disease with low-grade fever, conjunctivitis, and periorbital edema. Neurological complications such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, meningoencephalitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, acute myelitis, and transverse myelitis have been reported during ZIKV infection. Intrauterine and congenital ZIKV infections have strong teratogenic effects on the fetus. Intrauterine or congenital ZIKV infection can lead to microcephaly, ocular anomalies (such as macular atrophy, pigment mottling, and optic nerve anomalies), and cardiac anomalies (such as atrial or ventricular septal defect). Calcification in the brain between the cortical and subcortical areas, ventriculomegaly, cerebellar hypoplasia, corpus callosum hypoplasia, cortical/subcortical atrophy, delayed myelination, enlarged cisterna magna, and craniofacial disproportion have been reported as brain development defects. ZIKV infection usually results in a mild disease, and it does not require specific therapy. However, complications of infection during the early period of life are serious. Thus, many drugs have been investigated, and vaccine development studies have been conducted to prevent ZIKV infection. Vector control and personal protection from mosquito-borne transmission are important for decreasing the prevalence of ZIKV infection. In particular, pregnant residents or travelers to endemic areas should be carefully protected against mosquito-borne transmission.

A Fetus with Iniencephaly Delivered at the Third Trimester.

Iniencephaly is an uncommon neural tube defect, having retroflexion of the head without a neck and severe distortion of the spine. Iniencephaly is classified into two groups, iniencephaly apertus (with encephalocele) and iniencephaly clausus (without encephalocele). Incidence ranges from 0.1 to 10 in 10.000 pregnancies and it is seen more frequently in girls. Most of the fetuses with this defect die before birth or soon after birth, while those with the milder forms may live through childhood. Recurrence risk is around 1-5%. Family should be offered termination to reduce maternal risks and counseled for folic acid supplementation before the next planned pregnancy. Here we present a rare case of iniencephaly clausus which was diagnosed at 18th week of gestation by ultrasonography and delivered in the third trimester of pregnancy due to rejection of termination.