Introductions: Hearing loss and chronic otitis media among school-aged children in developing countries is reported to be a significant health problem. This problem in children influences the overall development of behavioral and communication skills. The main objective of this study was to study the hearing impairment and chronic otitis media in school going children in Pokhara. Methods: This was a cross sectional study done in Pokhara district, Kaski, Western Region Nepal in two private schools and one government school of Pokhara, selected randomly. All these children were interviewed for history taking and the examinations included tuning fork examination (Rinne’s, Weber’s and absolute bone conduction tests) and examination of the ear using otoscope. Results: A total of 215 school children were included in the study. The mean age was 12.04 (SD=1.108), male 48.4% and female 51.6%. Hearing impairment was found in 21.4% and chronic otitis media in 9.8%. Among hearing impairment, 71.7% had conductive and 28.3% had sensorineural type of hearing losses. Out of total number of children, 12.1% had tympanic membrane perforation. Conclusions: The prevalence of hearing impairment was seen in one fifth and chronic otitis media in one tenth of local school children of Pokhara city, Nepal. Country wide prevalence and causes for preventive measures should be studied.

Background Assessment drives learning. Student assessment cannot be neglected in the long ongoing online learning during COVID-19 pandemic to motivate and assess students’ learning. Hence Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) conducted online assessment to medical undergraduates amidst limitations. Objective To measure the perception of online assessment of students which will provide applicable insights for the further improvement. Method This is a single center, cross-sectional and descriptive study. A Google form containing a semi-structured questionnaire was sent to MBBS students of Basic Science at PAHS who attended online classes and online examination. The responses from close ended questions expressed in percentage and Chi-square test was used to find the association. Open ended questions were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis. Result Of 118 students that responded, 75% passed the online examination. A majority of students (73%) stated that online exam motivated them in learning process and it could be a good alternative during pandemic time. However the most of students (56%) were unsatisfied with the modality of online assessment and reasons that they mentioned were technical problems (89%), inadequate online proctoring (77%), insufficient examination time (58%), lack of orientation to exam, lack of computer skills. Technical problem was worse in rural areas. Conclusion Even though online assessment motivated students’ learning during online classes, a large number of students were unsatisfied with assessment modality.

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Introduction: During COVID-19 pandemic, live online lectures were offered for the first time to the undergraduate students. Due to its novelty, it was important to identify the effectiveness. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the perception of students and faculty regarding the attributes of lectures delivered via live online versus classroom platform. Method: In this descriptive study, after approval from the ethical committee, link to the validated questionnaire was sent via email to all participants. Quantitative data were expressed as numbers and percentage while thematic analysis was done for qualitative data. Result: In this study 22 faculty members and 176 students participated. Twenty-one (95%) faculty and 159 (90.3%) students agreed that it was a good initiative to start live online lectures during the pandemic, and 18 (81.8%) faculty and 160 (91%) students were satisfied or partially satisfied with online mode. Limitations identified were technical issues and lack of physical interaction. Both faculty members 18 (81.8%) and students 116 (65.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that online lectures were less interactive, and suggested ways to improve online lectures by making sessions more interactive, proper lecture scheduling and using different online media. Conclusion: Participants identified various strengths of live online mode which is encouraging to use during adverse situations or even continue as a standard platform but it is not without limitations. Thus, for successful implementation, proper planning and designing of lectures are required.

Introductions: Menopause is a physiological event that indicates the end of reproductive period in woman’s life. It has many health issues and morbidity. There are multiple factors that influence age of onset of menopause and we aim to find these associated factors. Methods: The 2011 ‘Nepal demographic and health survey’ data was used in this study. Logistic regression was used to find the association between the dependent and independent variables using bi-variate and multi-variate analysis. Results: The bivariate analysis showed the association of age, wealth index, education, marital status, employment, use of oral contraceptives and smoking with menopause. The multivariate analysis showed the independent association of age, education, employment and oral contraceptives. Conclusions: The employment, marital status and use of oral contraceptives were found to be independently associated with the age of onset of menopause on multivariate analysis.