Interprofessional education (IPE) emphasizes collaborative practice that aims at promoting the working relationships between two or more healthcare professions. However, there is paucity of literature about the effectiveness of IPE program in the healthcare. This systematic review and meta‐analysis aims to objectively determine the effectiveness of IPE in that field in terms of the improvement of students' knowledge, skills and attitudes. The databases of OVID, ISI Knowledge of Science, and Medline (PubMed) were searched for the full‐text English language articles published during 2000–2016 using the MeSH terms “interprofessional education” AND “healthcare professionals” AND “multi‐professional” AND “impact” AND “effectiveness” OR “collaborative practice” OR “medical students” in Endnote X7. A systematic search finally selected 12 articles for detailed review and meta‐analysis. The effect summary value of 1.37 with confidence interval of 0.92–1.82 identifies statistically significant effectiveness of intervention by IPE program in healthcare. The Z test value of 5.99, significant at 5% level of significance, also shows a significant impact of IPE intervention as calculated by the random‐effects model. This meta‐analysis shows a positive impact and effectiveness of educational intervention by IPE program in various disciplines of healthcare. However, analysis of further clinical trials may be helpful in identifying the effect of IPE program on the students' clinical competence.

AIM: To provide a quantitative assessment of the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Systematic review was conducted thorough MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and ISI Web of knowledge databases till 31^st January 2014. This meta-analysis included the cohort studies that illustrated relative risk (RR) or odds ratio estimates with 95%CI for the predictive risk of CRC by T2DM. Summary relative risks with 95%CI were analyzed by using an effects summary ratio model. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed by the Cochran’s Q and I² statistics. RESULTS: The meta analysis of 8 finally selected studies showed a positive correlation of T2DM with the risk of CRC as depicted by effects summary RR of 1.21 (95%CI: 1.02-1.42). Diabetic women showed greater risk of developing CRC as their effect summary RR of 1.22 (95%CI: 1.01-49) with significant overall Z test at 5% level of significance was higher than the effect summary RR of 1.17 (95%CI: 1.00-1.37) of men showing insignificant Z test. The effect summary RR of 1.19 with 95%CI of 1.07-1.33 indicate a positive relationship between DM and increased risk of CRC with significant heterogeneity (I² = 92% and P-value < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Results from this systematic review and meta-analysis report that diabetic people have an increased risk of CRC as compared to non-diabetics.

Background: Online social networking sites (SNSs) (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube) have emerged as rapidly growing mechanisms to exchange personal and professional information among university students. This research aims to determine the medical students' extent of usage of SNSs for educational purposes. Materials and Methods: Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Cochrane library, and Excerpta Medica Data Base (EMBASE) were searched to retrieve articles from 2004 to 2014, applying predefined search terms and inclusion criteria. The extracted 10 articles were outlined in a narrative synthesis of Quality, Utility, Extent, Strength, Target and Setting of the evidence (QUESTS). Results: Majority (75%) of the respondents admitted using SNSs, whereas 20% used these sites for sharing academic and educational information. No single study explored the impact of the SNSs on the academic performance. Conclusion: Understanding and knowledge of the significant use of SNSs by the medical students demand inclusion of such domains in medical curricula. This will train tomorrow's doctors in fostering their skills of digital technology for educational purposes.

Introduction: A compassionate and patient-centered care leads to improved clinical outcomes. Promoting empathy and compassion of medical students is a forerunner of their well-being, emotional stability, and a patient-centered care. However, there is slender evidence about best educational interventions that can inculcate empathy and compassion skills. Our objective was to conduct a systematic review of research evaluating the associations between spectrum, effectiveness, frequency of teaching modalities and their outcomes on compassion and empathy to highlight best practices.Methods: We searched the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and EBSCO Host on 22nd July 2020. We adapted our search strategy from a previously published systematic review on education for compassion and empathy. Selected studies were required to have used unique educational interventions for promoting empathy and compassion of medical students. The research questions were based on Participants (medical students), Intervention (empathy and/or compassion related teaching), Comparison, and Outcome.Results: We analyzed 24 articles from the initial yield of 2,861. Twenty-two were quantitative studies with a mean of 12.8 on MERSQI. Twelve were randomized controlled trials while 5 measured outcomes with single group pre- and post-tests. There was no association found between duration, frequency and complexity of an educational intervention and its effectiveness. Twenty used multimodality curricula, and of those 18 reported statistically significant positive improvement in empathy, while 3 of 4 single modality were effective. Only three studies looked for long-term effects of educational interventions. Fourteen studies evaluated Kirkpatrick's level one (self-reported knowledge), 2 level three (behavior), and 6 level four (patient outcomes). We identified six major educational constructs of teaching empathy and compassion; communication, mindfulness, early clinical exposure, technology-enhanced learning, comics and arts and culture.Discussion: Our review couldn't identify a standard teaching construct in place and highlighted that different teaching tools carry similar impact in promoting compassion and empathy and a sustainable program rather than a single training activity is essential.

Despite the popularity of peer-assisted learning (PAL), existing literature has not shown enough evidence that can validate its impact on students' active learning. This meta-analysis aims to quantitatively analyse the effectiveness of PAL in medical education. We searched selected databases using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms ‘peer-assisted’, ‘learning’, ‘active learning’, ‘teaching strategy’, ‘peer mentoring’, and ‘peer instructions’ for full-text English language studies with a pre-post design. Following a systematic protocol, we selected 11 articles for final analysis. A meta-analysis was done using Review Manager (RevMan) 5.3 from Cochrane Training and the final output was presented by a forest plot. The results showed a significant effectiveness of PAL; notably, there was a standardised mean difference of 1.26 with a confidence interval of 0.58–1.94. The Cochran's Q test showed a 5% level of significance as measured by Chi2 = 449.46. Besides, the results of the I2 test were significant (98%); moreover, a z value of 3.65 validated the effectiveness of PAL. This research has shown that PAL can be used as a valuable learning tool in the medical field. Educational interventions in curricula for incorporating PAL strategies can potentially enhance the learning experience of the medical students.