Anjum Aftab - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Anjum Aftab

Objectives: To assess the perceptions of medical students regarding characteristics of effective ... more Objectives: To assess the perceptions of medical students regarding characteristics of effective delivery of lectures. To make suggestions to promote active listening during lecture. To give recommendations regarding organization of lecture. Data Source: Primary data collected by administration of Structured Questionnaire. Design of study: Descriptive Cross-sectional. Setting: University Medical College, University of Lahore. Period: August to September 2011. Materials and methods: The study population comprised of 580 students studying at University Medical College of University of Lahore. The study sample was comprised of 123 students, 63 male and 62 female. The sample was determined by using non-probability convenience sampling technique. The study variables included socio-economic demographic and characteristic related to teaching skills and delivery of lectures. Results: The most important effective lecture delivery characteristics noted by the respondents of this study in order of were prior knowledge of the topic (87.8%), subject knowledge (82.9%), basic lecturing skills (77.2%), organization of the lecture (76.5%) and clarity (74%) of the lecturer regarding the underlying concepts. Majority of respondents reported the onset of boredom 20 minutes after the beginning of the lecture (37.4%) and during last 20 minutes (41.5%) in a lecture spanning over 60 minutes. The majority of respondents (78%) felt that they are motivated by the lecture. Conclusions: The most frequent characteristic required for effective teaching was prior knowledge of topic by students before the delivery. This study concludes promoting the friendly atmosphere during the delivery of the lecture.

Objectives: To determine awareness and perceptions about end of life palliative care among medica... more Objectives: To determine awareness and perceptions about end of life palliative care among
medical students.
Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.
Place of Study: Lahore Medical & Dental College (LMDC), Lahore.
Duration of Study: Three months, from January to March, 2012.
Material and Method: A structured questionnaire was used to obtain the required information
from students. Out of 500 students registered in first to final year MBBS classes, 435
participated in the study. The variables studied included, age, gender, year of study, awareness
about end of life palliative care, perceptions about preferred method of palliative care,
disseminating information about it and perceptions about death and dying. Data was entered
and cleaned in SPSS 19 statistical package. Data was presented in the form of tables and graphs.
Descriptive statistics was used in the forms of numbers and percentages.
Results: In the present study, 251(57%) were females, 219(50%) were either 20 years old or
younger and 216(50%) were 21 years old or older. The representation from various classes was
130(30%) from 1st year, 78(18%) from 2nd year, 86(20%) from 3rd year, 90(21%) from 4thyear
and 51(30%) from final year. Regarding palliative care, 70% committed that they had
knowledge about it. The preferred source of palliative care information were friend or relative
receiving palliative care (76%), television or internet (35%) and discussion among friends (25%).
Regarding the types palliative care that must be provided, most frequent suggestions were
domiciliary services for control of pain and other symptoms (54%), discussion about hopes,
fears, anxieties and beliefs (45%), day and night nursing help at home (30%) and telephonic
support and advice to patients and families (20%). Nearly all respondents agreed that awareness
about palliative care should be widespread and 57% of students preferred that information on this
topic should be generally available. Only 44% of students thought they death & dying is
discussed in the right amount.
Conclusion: There was generalized awareness about end of life palliative care among MBBS
students, which was mostly due to personal experience, discussion with friends and exposure to
electronic media.
Recommendation: Palliative care skills and death & dying should considered as core clinical
competencies and should be incorporated as mandatory part of the medical curriculum.
Workshops and seminars should be held for the families of patients requiring palliative care at
the hospital for raising awareness regarding palliative care and imparting skills required to take
care of dying patients.
Key Words: Palliative care, end of life, medical students, perceptions