Firdous Jahan

ABSTRACT Medical education has its core values of confidentiality and formal conduct while social media involved sharing and openness, connection which seems to be contradictory for medical professionalism. Main purpose of this study was to explore the students' perception, attitudes and barriers about the professional use of social media and to assess the experiences of undergraduate on the improvement of clinical teaching through the incorporation of social media applications. A cross sectional survey based study was carried out at Oman Medical College. All final year students consented to participate were included in the study. Data was collected on self-administered questionnaire in which core elements were divided – demographics, type and frequencies of different social media usage, student’s perception about WhatsApp utilization and barriers of not using social media. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0). Data were expressed in frequencies, mean and percentages. A total of 76 participants were enrolled in which 5 (6.6%) were male and 71 (93.4%) were aged between 20-25 years of age. Among all 57 (75%) were Omani nationals and almost all (98.7%) participants used social media of which 35 (46.1%) were android, 29 (38.2%) IOS, and 12 (15.8%) were other operating system users. All participants daily spend some time on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. In contrast, responses of all participants’ indicated that they never make use of Wiki, Chat On and hangout. More than half of the study participants believed that lack of internet access is one the main barrier of non-utilization of social media. Medical students prefer online media for communication and medical information along with usage of WhatsApp in medical education and learning is helpful for improving and enhancing the interactive learning. The students’ response emphasizes positive response and experiences of their learning and discussions provided an effective space for integrated small group clinical teaching and learning. Keywords: Social media, medical education, WhatsApp, clinical teaching, learning

Patient safety is a new and challenging discipline in primary care. Medical students need to understand and demonstrate appropriate patient safety skills in professional education. Pre-clinical students at Oman Medical College (OMC) have clinical skills training in primary care as well as in the hospital. The present study aimed to seek pre-clinical medical students' perceptions of their individual performance at a range of safety skills. A cross sectional study conducted at OMC. Data was collected by self-administrated questionnaire to a simple random sample of 50 medical students in pre-clinical years after finishing Family Medicine rotation. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Most participants (88%) agreed the importance of patient safety. Self- rated general knowledge on patient safety on good level (72%) compared to (27%) for the specific knowledge issues score. In medical error management 75% willing to report medical errors, more than half willing to disclose error to patient and faculty and 89% agreed introducing patient safety topic in undergraduate medical schools curricula. Students had a favorable opinion of their own safety skills. However, specific knowledge question revealed some misconceptions. Most participants recognized the importance of patient safety topic in curriculum. Students are fair and honest to report medical errors. They considered competent physician don’t make errors.

Abstract Objective To estimate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding complementary and alternative medicine to control of dyslipidemia and diabetes in the adult population. Background/Introduction Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the group of medical and health care practices and products that are not generally considered to be part of conventional medicine. CAM remedies can be an important component of health self-management in diabetes and dyslipidemia. Methodology A cross sectional survey based study was carried out at a public health awareness program organized by Oman Medical College in primary health care. All adult >18 years consent to participate in the study were included. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0). Data was expressed in frequencies and percentages and independent sample t-test was used. Result A total of 95 participants have filled the questionnaire, 71.6% were below 50 years and 58.9% were male. Self reported problems 55.8% were type II diabetes, 24.2% were hypertensive,12.6% had known dyslipidemia and smoker. 45.3% were taking medications only 31.6% were having physical activity. Most commonly used herb was garlic 32.6%, black seed and cinnamon 24.2% 26.3% were using it to control diabetes. Nearly half of survey respondents believed CAM can help them achieve better control high cholesterol and diabetes (48.4%) and has fewer side effects (50.5%).An independent samples t-test revealed no statistical significant difference regarding knowledge of CAM between males and females . Conclusion: Lack of knowledge in heart disease in the public can appear in the form unhealthy behaviors. Furthermore its insight may help to transform the gaps in public knowledge which can be filled by increasing health educational programs on Heart disease and Life style modification strategies. Study participants had adequate knowledge regarding risk factors of heart disease however the knowledge about CAM used is not appropriate. There is a positive attitude in public towards CAM used in diabetes and dyslipidemia and most commonly used CAM garlic, black seed and cinnamon.

The objective of this study was to assess the perception, skills and comfort level of medical students in clinical years regarding breaking bad news and perceived attainment of objectives in communication skills module. This is a survey using quasi-experimental (pre- /post-intervention) study design. All students in the final year at OMC, consented to participate were included in the study. Questionnaires were provided prior and post-workshop. The commonly used 6-point SPIKES protocol for breaking bad news was discussed. Questionnaire was mainly comprised of demographic details, pre and post ques¬tions, any previous training in communication skills, whether they had observed bad news being broken by a senior, how stressful they thought BBN was to them and SPIKES protocol, confidence levels among participants in communicating bad new and barriers of breaking bad news. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 20.v. Data were expressed in frequencies, mean and percent¬ages, t test and man Whitney U test were used to evaluate the significant differences between pre and post responses. A total of 70 medical students were participated in the study in which 60 (85.7%) were female participants. Significant statistical difference was observed between pre and post response of participants involving communicating bad news (p - 0.025). Similarly, there was a significant difference in the responses of participants aged <25 and ≥ 25 years responses regarding communicating bad news (p < 0.001). This study results revealed that at pre workshop, participants had statistically significantly (p-0.006, 95% CI -15.08-2.63) low pre-workshop score compared to post-workshop responses. Similarly, statistical difference was observed between age > 25 and <25 years old participants (p-0.027, 95% CI -1.19-19.13). No significant difference was found between male and female participant’s responses (p-0. 927, 95% CI -9.03-8.22).