Syed Moin Aly - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Syed Moin Aly
Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which... more Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which is mostly related to course work and workload. It has been a general concern in the educational arena regarding the underperformance of medical students. Literature provides a clear catalogue of reasons correlated with academic underperformance including: time management; reliance on passive learning; insufficient background and content knowledge; weakness in study skills, test-taking strategies or critical thinking and lack of self -regulation and metacognition.This article aims to offer a holistic yet detailed risk-management perspective to limit the risk of student underperformance among medical students. The literature will be used to identify and characterize risks; assess the vulnerability of students and the expected likelihood and consequences of specific type’s risk; identify ways to reduce those risks and prioritize risk reduction measures that can be implanted as well as stra...
BMC Medical Education, 2008
Background: Medical education in Saudi Arabia is facing multiple challenges, including the rapid ... more Background: Medical education in Saudi Arabia is facing multiple challenges, including the rapid increase in the number of medical schools over a short period of time, the influx of foreign medical graduates to work in Saudi Arabia, the award of scholarships to hundreds of students to study medicine in various countries, and the absence of published national guidelines for minimal acceptable competencies of a medical graduate.
Education in Medicine Journal, Sep 15, 2015
Asia houses 45% of medical schools of the world and a large number of graduates migrate to develo... more Asia houses 45% of medical schools of the world and a large number of graduates migrate to developed countries of the western region. Most of these schools have acquired integration in undergrad medical education; however, assessment is still disintegrated in almost all, potentially risking the quality of medical graduates. This paper explains the need and concept of Comprehensive Integrated Assessment (CIA) for final year medical students and how it can be beneficial for graduating medical students compared to the traditional discipline-based assessment. The concept has developed by Establishment of Medical Education and Research (EMER), a group of medical educationists from different regions, working together for the development of medical education. The paper discusses the pros and cons of integrated assessment and provides suggestions for its implementation in medical colleges of Pakistan.
PubMed, Apr 1, 2018
Objective: To find differences between One-Correct and One-Best multiple-choice questions with re... more Objective: To find differences between One-Correct and One-Best multiple-choice questions with relation to student scores, post-exam item analyses results and student perception. Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at the Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, from November 2010 to April 2011, and comprised medical students. Data was analysed using SPSS 18. Results: Of the 207 participants, 16(7.7%) were boys and 191(92.3%) were girls. The mean score in Paper I was 18.62±4.7, while in Paper II it was 19.58±6.1. One-Best multiple-choice questions performed better than One-Correct. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the two papers or in the difficulty indices. Difficulty and discrimination indices correlated well in both papers. Cronbach's alpha of paper I was 0.584 and that of paper II was 0.696. Point-biserial values were better for paper II than for paper I. Most students expressed dissatisfaction with paper II. Conclusions: One-Best multiple-choice questions showed better scores, higher reliability, better item performance and correlation values.
Journal of the Dow University of Health Sciences, 2012
The professional medical journal, Mar 10, 2018
To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtai... more To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtained by first yearMBBS students of both streams of education in the first professional exam. The study also determined the effect of education systems on the study habits of these students. Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
European Journal of General Dentistry, May 1, 2022
Journal of Pakistan Medical Association, Jan 16, 2021
Objective: Objective of the present study was to identify and describe the quality assurance proc... more Objective: Objective of the present study was to identify and describe the quality assurance procedures being implemented in assessment system of medical colleges in Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2015 to December 2017 in 49 medical colleges of Pakistan, using mixed method technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was filled after informed consent. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 21 (IBM). Results: In this study, 35(71.4%) of institutions followed a written assessment policy provided by the affiliated university, 09 (18%) never did so, 22 (44.8 %) participants reported that content experts checked if the questions matched the objectives, 17 (34.7%) reported that content expert would never/rarely check that. Majority, 42(85.7%) of institutions took strict steps to prevent cheating in exam, 26 (53.1%) institutions analyzed theory exam statistically. Discrimination index, difficulty index, reliability, and point biserial were calculated in 14(28.6%), 13(26.5%), 12(24.4%), and 7(14.3%) of the medical colleges respectively. Only 12(24.5%) of the institutions provided written feedback on the results, 15 (30.6%) institutions conducted internal audit annually. Themes belonging to assessment domain including, training for assessment, barriers and challenges, feedback and audit were identified. Conclusion: General issues related to quality assurance procedures in assessments (e.g. overall awareness about assessment policy) were in place in 60% of the colleges however, a large proportion did not have them. QA in assessments during exams was ensured by almost all medical colleges with only few exceptions. After exams QA was below average in terms of item analysis and feedback. Continuous...
International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition
Objective: To validate the WHO recommended Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) cut-offs for acute ... more Objective: To validate the WHO recommended Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) cut-offs for acute malnutrition screening in children younger than five in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including an anthropometric examination following WHO guidelines. Height was measured using Stadiometer and Infantometer. The link between MUAC and Weight-for-Height-Z score (WHZ) for different cut-offs of MUAC for Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) was shown using Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) curves and the Youden index. Sensitivity and specificity of MUAC <11.5 cm and ≥11.5 to <12.5cm were determined using WHZ scores of -3 Standard Deviation (SD) and ≥-3 to <-2 SD for SAM and MAM, respectively. Results: Among 499 children, as per WHZ score, 9.6% and 27.1% had SAM and MAM, respectively, whereas according to MUAC, 6.4% and 3.6% had MAM and SAM, respectively. At the maximum value of the Youden index of 55.6%, an o...
Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association
Objective: Clinical education is an important component of undergraduate medical education. This ... more Objective: Clinical education is an important component of undergraduate medical education. This study compares the efficacy of blended learning (BL) with contemporary face to face (F2F) teaching among medical students by assessing their OSCE scores at end of clinical posting. Methods: This experimental study was conducted in Dow University of Health Sciences from March to August 2014. Third-year medical students posted in the surgical units were divided into two groups. In the first month, one group in the unit was taught by BL while the second group posted in another unit was taught by F2F teaching. Both groups were assessed by same OSCE. In the second month, teaching method was flipped for both the groups with new learning contents. assessment was by the same OSCE for both groups. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23 with inferential statistics with independent sample t test. Results: A total of 28 students were assessed at the end of posting OSCE in F2F group and 31 students in ...
JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2021
OBJECTIVE To compare the difference in "memory recall" among undergraduates (UGs) and p... more OBJECTIVE To compare the difference in "memory recall" among undergraduates (UGs) and postgraduates (PGs) medical students reading printed text (hard copy) vs. on-screen text (soft copy). METHODS Final year UGs medical students (Group A) were divided into two batches, one batch was given hard copy of 1258 worded text and other group was given a soft copy of the same text. Likewise PGs (Group B) were divided into two batches, each batch was given hard copy and soft copy of the same text material with identical physical attributes. All batches were asked to read the text in 15 minutes. Text was then removed and a proforma containing statements pertaining to recall of the text material was administered to all. RESULTS The scores of students reading soft copy text were significantly higher compared to student reading text from hard copy (p<.008) in the proforma assessing memory recall. CONCLUSIONS The memory recall from reading on screen text is better than reading printed ...
JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2021
OBJECTIVE To evaluate student's perceptions related to their academic failure, and to compare... more OBJECTIVE To evaluate student's perceptions related to their academic failure, and to compare these perceptions with their nationality. METHODS The non-interventional, bi-national, comparative study was conducted in medical colleges of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2017 and comprised medical students who had scored less than 50% in their professional examinations. Data was collected using a pre-designed 22-item questionnaire that was scored by the students on a 5-point scale. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. Results Of the 210 students, 115(55%) were Pakistanis and 95(45%) were Saudis. Common reasons of failure identified were information overload 114(50%), difficult examination 101(48%), poor teaching skills of teachers 82(39%), system of education 75(36%) and unfair examination 78(37%). In terms of nationality, 11 items were found significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Regardless of cultural and environmental differences in factors contributing towards failure in studen...
Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which... more Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which is mostly related to course work and workload. It has been a general concern in the educational arena regarding the underperformance of medical students. Literature provides a clear catalogue of reasons correlated with academic underperformance including: time management; reliance on passive learning; insufficient background and content knowledge; weakness in study skills, test-taking strategies or critical thinking and lack of self -regulation and metacognition. This article aims to offer a holistic yet detailed risk-management perspective to limit the risk of student underperformance among medical students. The literature will be used to identify and characterize risks; assess the vulnerability of students and the expected likelihood and consequences of specific type’s risk; identify ways to reduce those risks and prioritize risk reduction measures that can be implanted as well as strategies for academic rehabilitatio
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 2019
Objectives: To determine the attitudes of faculty and residents of surgical specialties towards p... more Objectives: To determine the attitudes of faculty and residents of surgical specialties towards professionalism and to test the validity and reliability of a tool developed in USA for Pakistan. Methods: An exploratory validation study was carried out at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad from 01-Aug-2016 to 31-Jan-2017. Penn State College of Medicine Professionalism Questionnaire (PSCOM) was used, being a reliable and valid survey tools. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the inter-correlations of responses for 36 items was done using SPPS v 21 to give a factor solution to reflect the perceptions regarding attitudinal elements. Results: There were 209 respondents including 172 residents and 37 faculty members. Response rate was 81.32%. Exploratory Factor Analyses of responses gave a seven factor solution of professionalism: accountability, honour and integrity, excellence, duty, altruism, equity and respect. Six of the factors that emerged reflect the six elements ...
The Professional Medical Journal, 2018
To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtai... more To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtained by first yearMBBS students of both streams of education in the first professional exam. The study also determined the effect of education systems on the study habits of these students. Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which... more Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which is mostly related to course work and workload. It has been a general concern in the educational arena regarding the underperformance of medical students. Literature provides a clear catalogue of reasons correlated with academic underperformance including: time management; reliance on passive learning; insufficient background and content knowledge; weakness in study skills, test-taking strategies or critical thinking and lack of self -regulation and metacognition.This article aims to offer a holistic yet detailed risk-management perspective to limit the risk of student underperformance among medical students. The literature will be used to identify and characterize risks; assess the vulnerability of students and the expected likelihood and consequences of specific type’s risk; identify ways to reduce those risks and prioritize risk reduction measures that can be implanted as well as stra...
BMC Medical Education, 2008
Background: Medical education in Saudi Arabia is facing multiple challenges, including the rapid ... more Background: Medical education in Saudi Arabia is facing multiple challenges, including the rapid increase in the number of medical schools over a short period of time, the influx of foreign medical graduates to work in Saudi Arabia, the award of scholarships to hundreds of students to study medicine in various countries, and the absence of published national guidelines for minimal acceptable competencies of a medical graduate.
Education in Medicine Journal, Sep 15, 2015
Asia houses 45% of medical schools of the world and a large number of graduates migrate to develo... more Asia houses 45% of medical schools of the world and a large number of graduates migrate to developed countries of the western region. Most of these schools have acquired integration in undergrad medical education; however, assessment is still disintegrated in almost all, potentially risking the quality of medical graduates. This paper explains the need and concept of Comprehensive Integrated Assessment (CIA) for final year medical students and how it can be beneficial for graduating medical students compared to the traditional discipline-based assessment. The concept has developed by Establishment of Medical Education and Research (EMER), a group of medical educationists from different regions, working together for the development of medical education. The paper discusses the pros and cons of integrated assessment and provides suggestions for its implementation in medical colleges of Pakistan.
PubMed, Apr 1, 2018
Objective: To find differences between One-Correct and One-Best multiple-choice questions with re... more Objective: To find differences between One-Correct and One-Best multiple-choice questions with relation to student scores, post-exam item analyses results and student perception. Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at the Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, from November 2010 to April 2011, and comprised medical students. Data was analysed using SPSS 18. Results: Of the 207 participants, 16(7.7%) were boys and 191(92.3%) were girls. The mean score in Paper I was 18.62±4.7, while in Paper II it was 19.58±6.1. One-Best multiple-choice questions performed better than One-Correct. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the two papers or in the difficulty indices. Difficulty and discrimination indices correlated well in both papers. Cronbach's alpha of paper I was 0.584 and that of paper II was 0.696. Point-biserial values were better for paper II than for paper I. Most students expressed dissatisfaction with paper II. Conclusions: One-Best multiple-choice questions showed better scores, higher reliability, better item performance and correlation values.
Journal of the Dow University of Health Sciences, 2012
The professional medical journal, Mar 10, 2018
To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtai... more To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtained by first yearMBBS students of both streams of education in the first professional exam. The study also determined the effect of education systems on the study habits of these students. Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
European Journal of General Dentistry, May 1, 2022
Journal of Pakistan Medical Association, Jan 16, 2021
Objective: Objective of the present study was to identify and describe the quality assurance proc... more Objective: Objective of the present study was to identify and describe the quality assurance procedures being implemented in assessment system of medical colleges in Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2015 to December 2017 in 49 medical colleges of Pakistan, using mixed method technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was filled after informed consent. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 21 (IBM). Results: In this study, 35(71.4%) of institutions followed a written assessment policy provided by the affiliated university, 09 (18%) never did so, 22 (44.8 %) participants reported that content experts checked if the questions matched the objectives, 17 (34.7%) reported that content expert would never/rarely check that. Majority, 42(85.7%) of institutions took strict steps to prevent cheating in exam, 26 (53.1%) institutions analyzed theory exam statistically. Discrimination index, difficulty index, reliability, and point biserial were calculated in 14(28.6%), 13(26.5%), 12(24.4%), and 7(14.3%) of the medical colleges respectively. Only 12(24.5%) of the institutions provided written feedback on the results, 15 (30.6%) institutions conducted internal audit annually. Themes belonging to assessment domain including, training for assessment, barriers and challenges, feedback and audit were identified. Conclusion: General issues related to quality assurance procedures in assessments (e.g. overall awareness about assessment policy) were in place in 60% of the colleges however, a large proportion did not have them. QA in assessments during exams was ensured by almost all medical colleges with only few exceptions. After exams QA was below average in terms of item analysis and feedback. Continuous...
International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition
Objective: To validate the WHO recommended Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) cut-offs for acute ... more Objective: To validate the WHO recommended Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) cut-offs for acute malnutrition screening in children younger than five in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including an anthropometric examination following WHO guidelines. Height was measured using Stadiometer and Infantometer. The link between MUAC and Weight-for-Height-Z score (WHZ) for different cut-offs of MUAC for Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) was shown using Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) curves and the Youden index. Sensitivity and specificity of MUAC <11.5 cm and ≥11.5 to <12.5cm were determined using WHZ scores of -3 Standard Deviation (SD) and ≥-3 to <-2 SD for SAM and MAM, respectively. Results: Among 499 children, as per WHZ score, 9.6% and 27.1% had SAM and MAM, respectively, whereas according to MUAC, 6.4% and 3.6% had MAM and SAM, respectively. At the maximum value of the Youden index of 55.6%, an o...
Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association
Objective: Clinical education is an important component of undergraduate medical education. This ... more Objective: Clinical education is an important component of undergraduate medical education. This study compares the efficacy of blended learning (BL) with contemporary face to face (F2F) teaching among medical students by assessing their OSCE scores at end of clinical posting. Methods: This experimental study was conducted in Dow University of Health Sciences from March to August 2014. Third-year medical students posted in the surgical units were divided into two groups. In the first month, one group in the unit was taught by BL while the second group posted in another unit was taught by F2F teaching. Both groups were assessed by same OSCE. In the second month, teaching method was flipped for both the groups with new learning contents. assessment was by the same OSCE for both groups. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23 with inferential statistics with independent sample t test. Results: A total of 28 students were assessed at the end of posting OSCE in F2F group and 31 students in ...
JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2021
OBJECTIVE To compare the difference in "memory recall" among undergraduates (UGs) and p... more OBJECTIVE To compare the difference in "memory recall" among undergraduates (UGs) and postgraduates (PGs) medical students reading printed text (hard copy) vs. on-screen text (soft copy). METHODS Final year UGs medical students (Group A) were divided into two batches, one batch was given hard copy of 1258 worded text and other group was given a soft copy of the same text. Likewise PGs (Group B) were divided into two batches, each batch was given hard copy and soft copy of the same text material with identical physical attributes. All batches were asked to read the text in 15 minutes. Text was then removed and a proforma containing statements pertaining to recall of the text material was administered to all. RESULTS The scores of students reading soft copy text were significantly higher compared to student reading text from hard copy (p<.008) in the proforma assessing memory recall. CONCLUSIONS The memory recall from reading on screen text is better than reading printed ...
JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2021
OBJECTIVE To evaluate student's perceptions related to their academic failure, and to compare... more OBJECTIVE To evaluate student's perceptions related to their academic failure, and to compare these perceptions with their nationality. METHODS The non-interventional, bi-national, comparative study was conducted in medical colleges of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2017 and comprised medical students who had scored less than 50% in their professional examinations. Data was collected using a pre-designed 22-item questionnaire that was scored by the students on a 5-point scale. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. Results Of the 210 students, 115(55%) were Pakistanis and 95(45%) were Saudis. Common reasons of failure identified were information overload 114(50%), difficult examination 101(48%), poor teaching skills of teachers 82(39%), system of education 75(36%) and unfair examination 78(37%). In terms of nationality, 11 items were found significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Regardless of cultural and environmental differences in factors contributing towards failure in studen...
Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which... more Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which is mostly related to course work and workload. It has been a general concern in the educational arena regarding the underperformance of medical students. Literature provides a clear catalogue of reasons correlated with academic underperformance including: time management; reliance on passive learning; insufficient background and content knowledge; weakness in study skills, test-taking strategies or critical thinking and lack of self -regulation and metacognition. This article aims to offer a holistic yet detailed risk-management perspective to limit the risk of student underperformance among medical students. The literature will be used to identify and characterize risks; assess the vulnerability of students and the expected likelihood and consequences of specific type’s risk; identify ways to reduce those risks and prioritize risk reduction measures that can be implanted as well as strategies for academic rehabilitatio
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 2019
Objectives: To determine the attitudes of faculty and residents of surgical specialties towards p... more Objectives: To determine the attitudes of faculty and residents of surgical specialties towards professionalism and to test the validity and reliability of a tool developed in USA for Pakistan. Methods: An exploratory validation study was carried out at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad from 01-Aug-2016 to 31-Jan-2017. Penn State College of Medicine Professionalism Questionnaire (PSCOM) was used, being a reliable and valid survey tools. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the inter-correlations of responses for 36 items was done using SPPS v 21 to give a factor solution to reflect the perceptions regarding attitudinal elements. Results: There were 209 respondents including 172 residents and 37 faculty members. Response rate was 81.32%. Exploratory Factor Analyses of responses gave a seven factor solution of professionalism: accountability, honour and integrity, excellence, duty, altruism, equity and respect. Six of the factors that emerged reflect the six elements ...
The Professional Medical Journal, 2018
To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtai... more To determine the efficacy of Local Education System and GCSE system by comparing the scores obtained by first yearMBBS students of both streams of education in the first professional exam. The study also determined the effect of education systems on the study habits of these students. Study Design: Cross-sectional study.