BackgroundHigh infant and maternal mortality rates are one of the biggest health issues in Pakistan. Although these rates are given high priority at the national level (Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, respectively), there has been no significant decrease in them so far. We hypothesize that this lack of success is because the undergraduate curriculum in Pakistan does not match local needs. Currently, the Pakistani medical curriculum deals with issues in maternal and child morbidity and mortality according to Western textbooks. Moreover, these are taught disjointedly through various departments. We undertook curriculum revision to sensitize medical students to maternal and infant mortality issues important in the Pakistani context and educate them about ways to reduce the same through an integrated teaching approach.MethodsThe major determinants of infant mortality in underdeveloped countries were identified through a literature review covering international research produced over the last 10 years and the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2006-07. An interdisciplinary maternal and child health module team was created by the Medical Education Department at Shifa College of Medicine. The curriculum was developed based on the role of identified determinants in infant and maternal mortality. It was delivered by an integrated team without any subject boundaries. Students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes were assessed by multiple modalities and the module itself by student feedback using questionnaires and focus group discussions.ResultsAssessment and feedback demonstrated that the students had developed a thorough understanding of the complexity of factors that contribute to infant mortality. Students also demonstrated knowledge and skill in counseling, antenatal care, and care of newborns and infants.ConclusionsA carefully designed integrated curriculum can help sensitize undergraduate medical students and equip them to identify and address complex issues related to maternal and infant mortality in underdeveloped countries.

Focus groups can be a useful tool for collecting trustworthy and reliable information through a process that promotes interaction among student participants. They can support quantitative data from students and be used to support curriculum reform.

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Objective: To explore perceptions of medical students and faculty, regarding challenges of e-learning they faced, during COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design: Mixed method study (Quantitative and Qualitative - Phenomenological approach). Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College Pakistan, from Apr 2020 to Sep 2020. Methodology: A self-made questionnaire, having both qualitative and quantitative elements, was developed after interviews of participants. It was pilot tested, finalized and sent via Google forms. Total 318 students and 6 faculty members responded, data was transcribed verbatim, themes were identified, and qualitative inductive content analysis of participants‟ reports was done. Results: Twenty-seven subthemes were identified by analyzing students‟ and faculty perceptions. They were grouped under five major themes, namely, communicational, technological, institutional, related to educators and students. Conclusion: Despite limiting factors like communication gap, digital refugee faculty teaching digital native students, limited technical support, digital divide and unplanned curricular delivery, e-learning was found to be beneficial in terms of flexibility in timings, improving learners‟ self-efficacy, faculty transformation and gradual acceptance. Moreover, it provided opportunity for hybrid e-curriculum development.

Objective: This study was done to evaluate the effectiveness of a 3-hour workshop in improving faculty competence in developing high quality test items. Methodology: The study took place in National University of Medical Sciences and its affiliated institutes in Pakistan, during a period of six months in year 2018. It was a descriptive, cross sectional study. A series of seven workshops on quality assurance in writing MCQs was conducted as part of faculty development program, emphasizing hand-on experience and prompt feedback. Participants’ satisfaction was evaluated with a post-workshop feedback questionnaire (Kirkpatrick 1). A self-made structured questionnaire was given as a pre-test and post-test, to check improvement in cognition, behaviour and item writing skills of faculty (Kirkpatrick 2). Paired t test was applied and difference in mean scores of responses was evaluated. Results: Total 141 faculty members were trained.  The training session led to high satisfaction in all elements of workshop, significant improvements in boosting confidence in item writing skills(p=0.000), recognizing parts of MCQs (p=0.000), identifying item writing flaws (p=0.000) and levels of Millers pyramid and blooms taxonomy (p=0.000). Conclusion: Training sessions of short duration are effective in improving the competence of faculty in writing quality test items, provided hands-on experience is built-in and effective feedback is provided.