Health Sciences Faculty Attitude and Readiness Towards Simulation-Based Inter-Professional Education.

OBJECTIVE: To explore attitude and readiness of health sciences faculty towards simulation-based inter-professional education (IPE). STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative case-study; critical realist paradigm as used. Place and Duration of the Study: Bahria University Health Sciences Campus from December 2022 to March 2023. METHODOLOGY: Maximum variation purposive sampling technique was used for selecting the participants. A total of thirty-one participants were selected. Five faculty members from Nursing, five from Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), five Medical Laboratory Technologists (MLT), eight participants from medical, and eight from the dental faculty. Data were collected using individual semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussion. Duration of an individual interview was 30 minutes and that of the focus group discussion was 60 minutes. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Community of inquiry and community of practice theoretical framework were used for guiding the research design and interviews. Pattern matching technique was used for the data analysis. Atlas ti-9 was used for organising the data. RESULTS: Ten themes were identified after the analysis. teamwork, understanding roles and responsibilities, time constraint communication skills, curriculum integration, patient outcome, interprofessional boundaries, ethics in practice, faculty training, and visionary leadership. CONCLUSION: The faculty members valued interprofessional education but were reluctant to implement it due to the limited resources. There is a need of faculty development for implementation of simulation-based interprofessional education. There is insufficient research on simulation and interprofessional education in Pakistan because of which faculty members are unacquainted of its benefits. KEY WORDS: Interprofessional education, Simulation-based learning, Medical education.

Assessment Of Problem-Based Learning In Dental Education And Exploring Barriers To Its Implementation: Theory To Reality.

There are 59 dental colleges in Pakistan out of which 17 are in the public sector and 42 in private. However, only a few use problem-based learning methods, though it is a popular strategy in dental education all around the world. This study aims to assess problem-based learning model in dental education and explore the barriers of its implementation in a private dental college of Karachi. Qualitative case-study approach was employed. The philosophical stance used was critical realism. Qualitative data was collected by participant observation, video recorded observation and video elicited semi-structured in-depth interviews of five faculty members and 15 students. Results showed that students were more interested in interactive sessions while faculty members were in favour of problem-based learning sessions. Thematic analysis was done to generate themes. This research applies reproduction method to explain the necessary and contingent relations and causal powers. Lack of motivation among students and lack of faculty dedication are causal mechanisms of barriers in the implementation of problem-based learning.

Programmatic Assessment Prototype Design Using Integrated System Thinking And Design Thinking Framework.

Objective: To design a prototype programmatic assessment model using integration of system thinking and design thinking frameworks, and to explore barriers in the way of its implementation in medical education. METHODS: The qualitative case-study was conducted at Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi from September to December 2022. Methodological approaches used were systems thinking and design thinking. Philosophical paradigm used was critical realism. Maximum variation purposive sampling technique was used for selecting faculty members and medical students. Data was collected in two sets of semi-structured interviews. The initial interviews were at the levels of empathise, define and ideate. After that low-fidelity prototype programmatic assessment design was created and presented to the participants. The second set of interviews were focussed on feedback on prototype of programmatic assessment design. Pattern matching method was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 65 subjects, 20(30.7%) were faculty members; 5(25%) lecturers and 5(25%) professors each from basic and clinical sciences. The remaining 45(69.2%) were students; 5(11.1%)from each year of medical and dental streams. Initial interviews revealed that after failure, students struggle to understand the cause of failure as assessment system lacked narrative feedback mechanism and numbers or pass/fail decisions were not self-explanatory. Students lacked attitude towards continued improvement, formative assessment were not taken seriously as they carried only 10% weightage. After the programmatic assessment design was presented to the participants, faculty members voiced concerns regarding faculty training, shortage of resources and legal issues related to its implementation. Students supported the design, especially continued narrative feedback for their academic improvement. Portfolio development was considered a time-consuming task and they had reservations regarding their ability to make quality assessment portfolio. Conclusion: Implementation of programmatic assessment required faculty development and was resource-intensive, but stakeholders, especially students, were found interested in its implementation in medical education.

Mentor-mentee Relationship Using Video Elicitation Interviews.

OBJECTIVE: To explore aspects that define successful mentor-mentee relationships in medical education from a mentor and mentees' perspective. STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative study. Place and Duration of the Study: Bahria University Health Sciences, Karachi campus, from May to October 2022. METHODOLOGY: Data were collected using observations of mentoring sessions by recording videos, video-elicitation interviews for mentors and focus group discussions for mentees. Mentor Evaluation Tool (MET) questions were used during focus group discussions to gain detailed feedback from mentees on mentors and additional questions were added regarding the mentoring sessions' organisation and environment. During video-elicited interviews with mentors, an interpersonal process recall strategy was used to explore factors that define a mentor-mentee relationship. Video recordings of the mentoring sessions were used as an elicitation tool to guide the interviews. Giorgi's method was used for data analysis. Transcripts of observations by video recordings, video elicitation interviews, and focus group discussions were analysed first separately and then compared and integrated. RESULTS: According to mentors, the true essence of mentoring is mutual respect and confidentiality. Mentees suggested multiple mentors for professional development in different attributes. CONCLUSION: The mentors' commitment to their mentees and the mentees' respect and trust is the foundation of a successful mentor-mentee relationship. KEY WORDS: Mentor, Mentee, Relationship, Mentoring and Medical Education.

Lived experiences of undergraduate medical students after failure in final professional examination: A phenomenology.

The objective of the study is to focus on the actual phenomenon of medical students' exposure to failure. The research aims to highlight the lived experiences of undergraduate medical students after failure in final professional examination, from the student's point of view. Study was conducted in Bahria Medical and dental college Karachi, Pakistan. Interpretative phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experiences of students who failed in the final professional MBBS examination. Interpretivist and pragmatic research paradigms were used for philosophical explanation of the phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for data collection. These interviews were repeated until data saturation was reached. Interviews of participants were initially audio-recorded and then transcribed. Non-verbal communication was transcribed using observation method and following continuum of lexicalisation ranging from symbolic gestures to phrases or words omitted or adapted to enhance thick description and interpretation of latent content analysis. Verbal data was analysed by content analysis, non-verbal and verbal data were integrated, and phenomenological interpretive method was used in this study. Constant reflection on data or parts of data contributed to the understanding of the phenomenon. Data was organised in codes and themes using atlas ti-9. Results showed 16 codes under three themes, i.e. personal, social, and academic factors. Interpretive phenomenological approach applied in this study helped to uncover the complexity of medical students' failure.