Background: Clinical clerkship in a busy hospital environment forms an important part of undergraduate medical training. Regular objective assessment of this activity with feedback would be expected to improve outcome. Methods: We implemented fortnightly clinical assessments using modified OSLER (Objective Structured Long Examination Record), and over a 6-week clinical rotation. Modifications included provision of individualized feedback. The assessment process was evaluated by both students and teachers via a questionnaire measuring their perceived educational impact, feasibility and acceptability. Results: Students agreed that the patient spectrum was appropriate and fair, resulting in improved history taking and presentation skills (96.6%), clinical examination skills (89%) and clinical reasoning skills (90.7%). It was graded to have helped learning “tremendously” and “moderately” by 64.7% and 32.8% of students respectively. Perceived improvement was attributable mainly to the repetitive nature of the assessments since only 63% of students were provided with feedback. 96.6% of students and 94.1% of assessors perceived the format created a stressful but positive learning environment. 52.9% of assessors agreed that the exercise consumed significant time and resources but 88.2% rated it as manageable and supported its continuation. Conclusion: Frequent and regular in-course clinical assessments with emphasis on individual feedback is feasible, acceptable and has significant positive educational impact.

Appreciation of learning styles can be of use to help both educators and students to enhance the effectiveness of an educational experience. It has been noticed that some students at this College are not very good at expressing themselves in either written or spoken English. Our study aimed to identify the student’s learning styles; assess whether there is any correlation between learning style, baseline demographic data and self rated proficiency in English language; and assess their associations with the assessment performance. A group of third year medical students voluntarily participated in a questionnaire study to provide us with their learning styles, demographic information and self-rated proficiency in English language. This data was compared to the students’ performance in the assessment at the end of their junior clinical rotations. This cohort of students (60% Malay, 35% Chinese and 5% Indian) who were mostly visual learners, considered themselves proficient in English. Students with predominantly Visual learning styles and those with poorer English, score significantly lower during their clinical long case examinations. These two predictors appear to be independent of each other. These results may suggest that our current teaching modalities may disadvantage students with predominant visual learning styles. It also suggests that the long case clinical examination may favour those with more verbal learning styles.

Malaysia seeks to transform its public healthcare sector to manage the growing number of people with diabetes. Patient engagement is a critical clinical competency for healthcare providers treating people with diabetes. In this study, we investigate the perceptions of and ability to practice patient engagement among doctors and nurses working in Malaysia’s primary healthcare system. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine non-specialist doctors and ten nurses working in primary healthcare clinics. Further, 12 key informants with specialist knowledge about diabetes care and the healthcare system in Malaysia were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Three main themes emerged: 1) understanding barriers to self-care and treatment, 2) perceived training needs and skills within patient engagement and empowerment, and 3) challenges to the practice of patient engagement. A range of barriers was identified in healthcare providers’ ability to practice patient engagement. Future efforts should seek to improve competencies within patient engagement, identification of especially psychosocial barriers to self-care and empowerment. Yet, available manpower and time also influence whether patient engagement is practiced.

Realising possible unmet needs of final year medical students we initiated a weekly informal face-toface discussion forum between them and the teaching faculty of the department of medicine. Various academic and non-academic topics, as dictated by the students, were discussed in 19 weekly sessions. Evaluation by the students was subsequently done by means of an on-line questionnaire after the final examinations. The aim of this study was to evaluate this forum, undertaken for the first time in our institution, by assessing student feedback. We conclude that although the number of attendees and responders were small, feedback was generally positive. This type of forum can be improved upon and serve as another portal for benefitting students.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the severity of COVID-19, inflammatory parameters and clinical outcomes among patients with normal and subnormal levels of Vitamin D. Methodology: This is a retrospective cohort study of 135 patients admitted in a tertiary hospital for COVID-19. Patients were grouped according to their Vitamin D level. Primary outcome measure was the composite of all-cause mortality and morbidity. Other outcome measures determined were the comparison among the groups on the severity of COVID-19 infection, changes in inflammatory parameters, length of hospital stay and duration of respiratory support. Results: There was a significant trend of higher ICU admission, mortality (p-value= 0.006) and poor clinical outcome (p-value=0.009) among the Vitamin D deficient group. No significant difference was found for most of the inflammatory parameters, duration of hospital stay and respiratory support. Overall, patients with deficient, but not insufficient Vitamin D level had 6 times higher odds of composite poor outcome than those with normal Vitamin D (crude OR=5.18, p-value= 0.003; adjusted OR =6.3, p-value=0.043). Conclusion The inverse relationship between Vitamin D level and poor composite outcome observed in our study suggests that low Vitamin D may be a risk factor for poor prognosis among patients admitted for COVID-19.
type 2 diabetes mellitus ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver disease