Background and Objective: Hepatitis B is an occupational health hazard to health-care workers. The complete knowledge of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission and prevention is indispensable for medical students. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B among preclinical year medical students. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. A predesigned self-administered questionnaire concerning hepatitis B knowledge and awareness was distributed to all the preclinical year medical students. The data were collected, tabulated, and analyzed by Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 22. The results were expressed in numbers and percentages. Results: Of 251 students, only 132 students voluntarily participated in the study. Majority of the students (84.8%) were aware of HBV infection. Many students knew that blood transfusion (81.1%) and use of contaminated needles and syringes (74.2%) are major modes of transmission. However, less than 30% of the students had knowledge about other modes of transmission. More than 50% of the students lacked in their knowledge about clinical features and complications of hepatitis B infection. Majority of students (72.7%) were aware of HBV vaccination. However, many students did not know their vaccination status, whereas only 23.5% of the students were fully immunized. Conclusion: This study revealed lack of complete knowledge regarding hepatitis B among preclinical year medical students. They are at high risk of acquiring HBV infection during their clinical practice, later in life. Hence, implementation of well-structured education program in the first year itself is needed to create complete awareness among medical students about hepatitis B.

BACKGROUND Team-based learning (TBL) is highly structured, instructive, and student-focused pedagogy used by medical educators to foster students’ learning. OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to qualitatively explore students’ perception on effectiveness of online synchronous TBL pedagogical strategy in promoting learning outcomes. METHODS A cross-over study was conducted on MD4 year medical students, using four modified TBL sessions on common immunological diseases. The means and standard deviations of the pretest and posttest scores were compared using unpaired T-test. ANOVA for cross-over design was used to find out confounding by sequence of interventions with a p-value of < 0.05 signifying significance. Students’ feedback on the effectiveness of online TBL sessions was collected through predesigned questionnaire on a 3-point Likert scale. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 and was expressed as number and percentage. RESULTS In total, 139 MD4 year medical students participated in the activity. The overall response of our students toward the effectiveness of online TBL pedagogy was overwhelmingly positive. Majority (>80%) perceived TBL as an enjoyable active session that promoted their active participation and engagement in the learning process through student-led discussions. Also, many opined that TBL enhanced their critical thinking, problem solving ability, communication skills, and thus improved their knowledge. The posttest scores of the students who participated in TBL session was significantly higher when compared to self-study group, suggesting the session improved their knowledge. CONCLUSIONS TBL is an instructive and highly structured teaching-learning strategy, welcomed by majority of our participants. The pre-class preparation, readiness assurance tests, instructor’s feedback, and knowledge application exercises encourage students to engage in active and collaborative learning and thus aids in better knowledge acquisition. From our study results, it is concluded that online TBL sessions are effective in fostering students’ learning and can be used confidently when situation demands. CLINICALTRIAL NU/COMHS/EBC0001/2021

Antibiotics once regarded as magic bullets are no more considered so. Overuse of antibiotics in humans, agriculture, and animal husbandry has resulted in the emergence of a wide range of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens which are difficult to treat. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious global health problem associated with high mortality in the era of modern medicine. Moreover, in the absence of an effective antibiotic, medical and surgical interventions can highly become a risk. In recent times, the decreased incline of pharmaceutical industries toward research and development of newer effective antibiotics to fight this MDR pathogens have further fuelled the scarcity of antibiotics, thus the number of antibiotics in the pipeline is extremely limited. Hence it is high time for the development of new strategies to fight against dangerous MDR pathogens. Currently, several novel approaches explored by scientists have shown promising results pertaining to their antimicrobial activity against pathogens. In this article, the authors have summarized various novel therapeutic options explored to contain AMR with special attention to the mechanism of action, advantages, and disadvantages of different approaches.

Objectives: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, a Gram-negative non-fermentative bacillus, has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen in recent years. It is intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics and has the ability to acquire antibiotic resistance by multiple mechanisms. Treating Stenotrophomonas infections, therefore, is a serious challenge for physicians. This study aimed to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility patterns and risk factors contributing to S. maltophilia infections. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Sohar Hospital in Sohar, Oman. The demographic, clinical and microbiological data of individuals from whom S. maltophilia was isolated between September 2016 and August 2019 were reviewed. Descriptive statistics were presented as frequencies and percentages. Results: A total of 41 S. maltophilia isolates from clinical specimens of 41 patients were studied. Infection occurred predominantly in males (73%) and the majority of patients (88%) were either ≤5 years old or >60 years old. All inpatients had at least one comorbidity while 50% had more than one. All inpatients were exposed to various medical interventions such as intensive care (44%), mechanical ventilation (41%), haemodialysis (25%), Foley’s catheterisation (13%) and central venous lines (6%). Most patients (81%) were in hospital longer than two weeks. The susceptibility rates of S. maltophilia to minocycline (97%), trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole (93%) and levofloxacin (92%) were high; the rate was lowest for ceftazidime (50%). Conclusion: S. maltophilia was found to be an important nosocomial opportunistic pathogen. Prolonged hospital stay and exposure to various medical interventions were key factors contributing to the development of infection. Minocycline and ceftazidime were found to be the most and least susceptible drugs, respectively.   KEYWORDS Nosocomial Infection; Opportunistic Infections; Fluoroquinolones; Hemodialysis; Ventilation; Oman.

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health problem, which is mainly promoted by injudicious antibiotic usage. The main strategy to control AMR is to emphasize the appropriate use of antibiotics, which can be achieved by creating awareness about AMR, changing the attitude of medical students who are the future prescribers. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of fifth-year medical students regarding antibiotic use and AMR. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 125 fifth-year medical students of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sohar. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding antibiotic use and AMR. The data were statistically analyzed and expressed as numbers and percentages. Results: Of 125 participants, the majority (>90%) were aware of AMR and its global impact. Nearly three in four knew that antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infection. However, most of the students had lacunae in their knowledge regarding contributing factors and consequences of AMR. A minority of students lack the right attitude toward rational antibiotic usage and adequate infection control practices. The majority of them were unaware of strict guidelines pertaining to judicious antibiotic usage and adequate infection control policies implemented in hospitals, as recommended by the World Health Organization. Conclusion: The results of our study reflect lacunae in students' knowledge regarding antibiotic usage and AMR. Therefore, there is a need for an implementation of effective medical curricula to improve medical students' knowledge regarding AMR and the appropriate use of antibiotics. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Patient care, Medical knowledge, Professionalism, Systems-based practice, Practice-based learning and improvement, Interpersonal and communication skills.