Abrupt closure of educational institutions due to COVID pandemic had created historical impact on educational system all over the world, the situation had been more challenging in undergraduate medical teaching. Moving smoothly from an environment of conventional education to virtual platform could not happen overnight. The current paper presents results of a cross-sectional study conducted from 13th July to 20th July, 2020 on MBBS students of Chattagram International Medical College, a non-Government Medical College of Bangladesh, exploring students’ views on online classes. A total of 217 students participated in the study, the response rate of survey was 87%. Among pre-clinical students, 47.6% ±1.1% and among clinical students 48.3% ±0.8% ‘sometimes’ felt interested in the class. Though majority of both pre-clinical and clinical students mentioned having appropriate device; there had been a wide range of variations in responses regarding their own internet connectivity. The most striking finding came out with the question if online class would be felt as a good substitute of ‘face-to-face’ class; it was ‘never’ response in more than 70% students in both pre-clinical and clinical groups. To take challenge of creating real-life picture in online class, there is necessity of a shift of traditional ‘lecture-based ’classes to more interactive, simulation-based classes; specially for clinical students. Institutional support needs to be strengthened for ensuring sound and visibility during the classes. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.11(2) 2020: 3-13

Background: Bangladesh, A country with scintillating beauty of nature burdened with a dense population. Along with infectious diseases, tropical diseases are also prevalent here with a higher trend of non- communicable diseases as a result of industrialization. Practicing and prescribing as a doctor is a quite challenging profession here particularly when to deal with vast rural populations in a low resource facility. Medical education system is well developed in Bangladesh which follows traditional curriculum of teaching learning. Students are not accustomed with problem-based learning as it does not exist in curriculum. In order to confront with diverse disease pattern and overloaded population in this arduous backdrop of Bangladesh, problem- based learning can be a very effective tool for preparing medical students as an efficient, self- directed and insightful prescriber. This study was a primary step to introduce problem- based learning (PBL) to medical students of Bangladesh to evaluate the effectiveness of PBL in context of Bangladesh. Methods: Around 117 students of 4th year from 6 different medical colleges were randomly assigned for this study. Among them, half of the students attended PBL session for three days on a topic of Pharmacology and other students participated traditional lecture class. Following classes, odds ratio of performance was determined. MCQ, SAQ and total scores of assessment were compared. Comparison of scores was also done between male and female students of PBL group. Results: PBL students performed better than the LBL students. Odds ratio of their assessment performance was 252.08; with 95% confidence interval and lower range 53.89 and upper range 1179.28. The odds ratio showed strong association between PBL and student performance in Bangladesh context. Mean of total score was 30.7 ± 4.3 in PBL group and 17.2 ± 4.8 in LBL group. Total score was significantly higher (p= 0.000) in PBL group. Mean SAQ score in PBL and LBL group was 17.2 ± 2.2 and 5.3 ± 1.9 respectively which was extremely significant (p= 0.000). MCQ score mean was 13.4 ± 3.4 in PBL group versus 11.8 ± 3.7 in LBL group which was significantly higher in PBL group (p= 0.02). Among PBL group, total score and SAQ score was significantly higher in female students over male students. Conclusion: Significant findings of this study revealed PBL as an effective tool in Bangladesh context. Thereby, it is recommended from this study to take approaches for further study and initiative to incorporate PBL in curriculum as well. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.12(1) 2021: 22-31

Proper doctor-patient communication produces therapeutic benefit on the patient. The arts and tips of communication skill can change the feelings of a patient forever. Good communication skill should have verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal components. Unfortunately, many postgraduate doctors of our country cannot satisfy the demand of their patients due to lack of training on communication skills. In this paper, a model for communication skill training has been proposed for newly graduated doctors which includes formal lecture, video demonstration, role play and evaluation by creating different scenarios. The selected time for communication skill training would be the time gap between publication of result of final professional MBBS and starting the internship training. With increasing demand of creating more communicative physicians, implementation and further recommendations on communication skill training for new graduates are encouraged.Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.9(2) 2018: 32-36

Over last few months, educational institutes across the globe have been forced to close the campuses and switch to virtual classes. Learning is a hard job and studying online can make someone feel isolated, confused or discouraged without proper guidance. The current paper presents the results of a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study conducted in November 2020 on teachers of Chattagram International Medical College, a non-government medical college in Bangladesh. Altogether 52 teachers of CIMC participated in the study, which corresponded to 85% response rate. More than 90% teachers preferred screen-share during the class, half of the teachers considered internet connectivity as most challenging issue in taking class. Remarkable findings in closed questionnaire reflected interest among the faculty for online class, well-maintained discipline in the class, appropriate topic selection, satisfactory ownership of device for online class, non-preference of online class as a good substitute of face-to-face class and partial preference to keep virtual background as an option for teaching even after resuming face-to-face class. Key recommendations from the study included institutional support regarding internet connectivity and logistics, effective interaction with the students to make the classes more meaningful as well as proper training to the teachers to enhance proficiency in online classes. Finally, virtual class can never totally replace face-to-face class; however, this intelligent skill can be kept as an option for teaching in selective circumstances even after pandemic is over and face-to-face classes have been resumed. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.12(1) 2021: 3-9

not available Chatt Maa Shi Hosp Med Coll J; Vol.19 (2); July 2020; Page 3-4