Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to global public health. It increases morbidity and mortality, and is associated with high economic costs due to its health care burden. Infections with multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria also have substantial implications on clinical and economic outcomes. Moreover, increased indiscriminate use of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic will heighten bacterial resistance and ultimately lead to more deaths. This review highlights AMR’s scale and consequences, the importance, and implications of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) to fight resistance and protect global health. Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), an organizational or system-wide health-care strategy, is designed to promote, improve, monitor, and evaluate the rational use of antimicrobials to preserve their future effectiveness, along with the promotion and protection of public health. ASP has been very successful in promoting antimicrobials’ appropriate use by implementing evidence-based interventions. The “One Health” approach, a holistic and multisectoral approach, is also needed to address AMR’s rising threat. AMS practices, principles, and interventions are critical steps towards containing and mitigating AMR. Evidence-based policies must guide the “One Health” approach, vaccination protocols, health professionals’ education, and the public’s awareness about AMR.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first detected in China in December, 2019, and declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. The current management of COV...

Various evidence-based and student-centered strategies such as team-based learning (TBL), case-based learning (CBL), and flipped classroom have been recently applied to anatomy education and have shown to improve student engagement and interaction. These strategies shift the focus of teaching from knowledge transmission to knowledge construction by students and encourage the use of tasks. This study discusses the use of an active and engaging learning strategy to teach the musculoskeletal system to Year 1 MBBS students (Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados) and examines the correlation between assessment modalities and student performance. The “Active and Engaging Learning Strategy” was used to assess student learning in the form of oral presentations. Students had presentations on muscle attachments, muscle actions, blood and nerve supply, and applied anatomy of the limb musculature. Questions on the limbs (Locomotor System) were included in pre and post-presentation spotters, in-course assessments, and final examinations. Percentages, paired t-test, independent sample t-test, and zero-order correlations were performed to confirm the results for the different objectives of the study. The main modes of presentation chosen were poems (37.1%), followed by stories (21.2%), songs (11.4%), and skits (10.6%). The majority of students (84%) found the strategies beneficial and recommended such sessions for future cohorts (92%). Students achieved significantly better scores in post-presentation spotters (p < 0.01) and the marks of in-course and final examinations also showed significant improvement (p < 0.01). Our study highlighted that the active and engaging learning strategy can be used as an effective learning tool in anatomy. Students were proactive in preparing the muscle presentations by utilizing their own creativity, curiosity, and intelligence. Further studies should be conducted using randomized controlled trials to assess the effectiveness of various learning strategies which could open a new door to medical education.

Background: The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is the gold standard and universal format to assess the clinical competence of medical students in a comprehensive, reliable and valid manner. The clinical competence is assessed by a team of many examiners on various stations of the examination. Therefore, it is found to be a more complex, resource- and time-intensive assessment exercise compared to the traditional examinations. Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine the final year MBBS students’ and OSCE examiners’ perception on the attributes, quality, validity, reliability and organization of the Medicine and Therapeutics exit OSCE held at the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill) in June 2017. Methods: At the end of the OSCE, students and examiners were provided with a questionnaire to obtain their views and comments about the OSCE. Due to the ordinal level of data produced by the Likert scale survey, statistical analysis was performed using the median, IQR and chi-square. Results: A total of 52 students and 22 examiners completed the questionnaire. The majority of the students provided positive views regarding the attributes (eg, fairness, administration, structure, sequence, and coverage of knowledge/clinical skills), quality (eg, awareness, instructions, tasks, and sequence of stations), validity and reliability (eg, true measure of essential clinical skills, standardized, practical and useful experiences), and organization (eg, orientation, timetable, announcements and quality of examination rooms) of the OSCE. Similarly, majority of the examiners expressed their satisfaction with organization, administration and process of OSCE. However, students expressed certain concerns such as stressful environment and difficulty level of OSCE. Conclusion: Overall, the OSCE was perceived very positively and welcomed by both the students and examiners. The concerns and challenges regarding OSCE can be overcome through better orientation of the faculty and preparation of the students for the OSCE.

Peer reviewed article authored by (Sayeeda Rahman, Md Anwarul Azim Majumder, Sami F Shaban, et al). Read article or submit your manuscript for publishing.