Introduction: Foundation University Medical College is one of the few institutions in Pakistan that have developed an Integrated Modular Teaching Program. This mode of teaching is a novel addition to our conventional system and needs evaluation. The objective of this study was to compare the overall cumulative results of undergraduates from (Group A/2015) conventional (old) with (Group B/2016) integrated (new curriculum) final professional examinations and to correlate the overall cumulative results of final professional examinations with their admission test results. Materials And Methods: We compared the final professional examination results of Group A and Group B undergraduates. Both the groups had identical final examinations in terms of pattern, subjects, examiners, and duration. In addition, a measure of central tendency and standard deviation was calculated and made comparisons between entry and final professional examination results. Finally, the t-test was used to compare the theoretical and practical scores. In addition, it established the reliability and validity of the results. Results: The overall performance of undergraduates who trained on integrated curriculum (97.0%) was better than that of undergraduates who had trained on conventional curriculum (85.2%). Comparison between the various components of the professional examinations using the ANOVA test also revealed that the same group of undergraduates performed better with P < 0.05, which is 0.002, which showed significant results. Cronbach's alpha for overall performance was 0.957, whereas for the theoretical and practical examinations, it was 0.792 and 0.897, respectively. Conclusion: The results revealed that the undergraduates who had trained on integrated curriculum had improved performance in the final professional examinations both in theory and practical. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Medical Knowledge, Practice-based learning and improvement, Systems-based practice, and Interpersonal and communication skills.

Abstract Introduction: Bedside teaching is an important but declining strategy in medical education. The regulatory authority’s insistence on structure of an institute needs be supplemented with quality of bedside teaching. The objective of this study was to find perceptions and compare bedside teaching among students of public and private medical colleges of Peshawar. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at four medical colleges of Peshawar during the month of February 2020. A Likert scale tool with 30 items and four subscales; physical environment, patient’s comfort and student attitude, teaching session and teaching fellow was filled by 242 students. Mean score for each question and each subscale was calculated for each institute for perceptions. Mean score of two public and two private institutes for each subscale was compared by unpaired t-test. Results: Physical environment mean score was highest at Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar (2.97±0.50). Patients’ comfort and students’ attitude mean score was approximately equal in four institutes. In teaching session, the highest mean score was reported by Khyber Girls Medical College and was lowest by Khyber Medical College. For teaching fellow, mean score was highest at Khyber Girls Medical College (3.70±0.67) and lowest at Kabir Medical College (2.85±0.55). For physical environment (public 2.87±0.48 vs. private 2.59±0.60) and teaching fellow scale (public 2.87±0.48 vs. private2.59±0.60) there was highly significant difference (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Mean score in four subscales are comparable in four institutes with some variation but there are significant differences between public and private institutes in physical environment and teaching fellow subscales. There are some consistencies and conflicts with regional and international literature. This needs in-depth qualitative exploration. Bedside teaching, Medical education, Perception, Physical environment, Teaching session, Teaching fellow

Objective: Specialty choices in health profession has long been influenced by gender. The field of General Surgery remains the least preferred specialty by females, especially in Pakistan. The objective of this study was to identify the factors leading to success and retention of females in General Surgery in Pakistan. Methods: Qualitative case study was conducted from February to May 2020 at Khyber Medical University, Peshawar. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposive sample of female surgeons at various academic position in different tertiary care hospitals of Pakistan. Data were thematically analyzed. Results: Participants were driven by their passion for surgery, which led them to choose this specialty in the beginning. Their survival in male dominant workplace was made possible by their own personality traits and conducive environment provided by the supervisors and peers. However, a structured mentorship program for females was found lacking. Conclusion: The necessary ingredients for success are passion and personality traits in any field but attention to nurturing and supportive environment for females in the General Surgery is paramount in determining success. Due consideration to the factors identified in the current study will enhance the retention and success of females in General Surgery. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.4.7528 How to cite this: Naqvi SSQ, Adeeb H, Sethi A. Survival in general surgery: The female surgeons’ perspective. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(4):926-930. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.4.7528 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.