Objective. Transitioning from college to university life is a whole new exciting experience for the students but it also often develops feelings of unfamiliarity within them. The literature states that near-peer mentoring is a new paradigm that can provide multiple opportunities for the professional growth of the mentees and mentors. This study aims to introduce a formal near-peer mentoring program at Ziauddin Medical College and identifies its effects on the participants of this program. Methods. A quasi-experimental study design was used for a duration of 5 months. In total, 73 students participated in the program, 21 from the 3rd year as near-peer mentors (NPMs) and 52 from the 1st year as mentees. All mentees were randomly distributed among the mentors, broadly in a ratio of 1 : 2. Data were collected using a peer-mentoring evaluation toolkit, having questions based on a Likert scale. Results. The results showed that after participating in this program, 69% of the mentees felt acclimatized into the university environment and 66% of the mentors also developed a sense of belonging. Ninety percent of the mentors agreed that their soft skills improved after mentoring their juniors. Overall, around 70% of the mentors and mentees agreed that participation in this program had positive effects on their learning. Conclusion. This study provides baseline information of NPM program intervention, which had a positive effect on both the participated mentors and mentees. Thus, the formal introduction of such programs will be beneficial for medical institutes to improve the student support process.

Background: Diverse strategies are employed globally to integrate medical curricula. Nevertheless, a gap exists in assessing the role of medical instructors in meaningful integration. We developed and used a tool to explore the current level of integration, score medical instructors’ individual practices for integration, and investigate contextual elements minimizing integration. Methodology: This cross-sectional study, conducted in September-November-2020, used convenience-sampling. The study participants were basic-sciences and clinical instructors at two private-sector medical colleges in Karachi-Pakistan (with a response rate of 53.5%, n = 107). We validated a paper-based questionnaire through a pilot study on five participants. This tool with 11 close-ended questions on a 5-point Likert scale generated instructors’ integration scores, and six open-ended questions probed instructors’ perspectives. Results: The mean integration score was 37.4±6.7. Participants’ perspectives indicated a need for participation of clinical faculty in teaching initial undergraduate years, involving lecturers in curriculum meetings, and integration of assessment. The questionnaire Cronbach-alpha was 0.732 with satisfactory principal-component-analysis. Conclusion: Medical instructors facilitated integration mainly through concurrent timetabling of similar topics. Moreover, formal consultation through committee meetings, with discipline-based and integrated approaches complementing each other, were in practice to achieve curricular goals.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to highlight the experiences of faculty members of Ziauddin Medical & Dental College towards the introduction of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: In September 2020, an online questionnaire was sent to all the teaching faculty members of Ziauddin medical and dental college through Google form to gather their views on introduction of online education during Covid-19 pandemic. The study design is cross-sectional, descriptive. Non-probability, purposive sampling was done. Out of all, 45 faculty members submitted the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, that is, pie-charts showing frequency, percentages and mean were used to describe the collected data. Results: Three teaching strategies were introduced in Ziauddin College as part of online educational program. There were 12 faculty members who were involved in all the three teaching strategies that were online and recorded lectures and e-PBLs. Majority of the faculty (49%) agreed that online teaching provides rich learning resources and is an efficient teaching method but 55% also stated that it cause fragmentation of learning and reduced teamwork amongst students. 38% stated that online education standardizes the course content and helps in establishing evaluation mechanisms but more than 90% of them agreed that it is a tedious process which requires training programs for teachers and a well-developed technological infrastructure for its smooth delivery. Conclusion: The faculty of Higher Education Institutions is struggling in implementing online education program. They require time and support from institutes as they try to acclimatize into the new normal of online education.