Background: Dermatology is a minor module in internal medicine undergraduate curriculum. Limited time is allocated for its teaching. Most graduates are inadequately prepared to diagnose and manage skin diseases. We aimed to identify the core content of a more effective dermatology module. Methods: A modified Delphi method was used to reach a consensus. A questionnaire was developed by a selected panel and sent to 20 dermatologists, family physicians and general practitioners (GPs), respectively. They were asked to rate diseases according to importance. The participants then answered the questionnaire again with results of the first round made available to them. The final module content was identified based on the panel’s collective opinions. Results: Eleven topics had mode and median values of 1 with an agreement level of more than 70%. They were as follows: (1) skin structure and function; (2) infections and infestations; (3) the skin in systemic diseases; (4) dermatology emergencies; (5) drug eruptions; (6) psoriasis; (7) eczema; (8) sexually transmitted infections; (9) leprosy; (10) acne; and (11) clinical skills and diagnostic procedures. A total of 56 diseases were identified as important. Conclusion: Results of this study reflect the importance of understanding the influence of regional factors on common and important skin diseases. These topics may be used to develop a more effective dermatology module for the Malaysian undergraduate medical curriculum.

Clinical Competence ; Competency-Based Education ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Malaysia ; Postal Service ; Students, Medical

Shiga toxin genes (stx) harbouring Escherichia coli (STEC) strains were isolated and identified from diarrhoeal patients visiting the Dhaka Hospital of ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Of the 189 E. coli strains isolated from 775 diarrhoeal stool specimens, 19 harboured stx1, and one isolate was revealed to have amplicons for both stx1 and stx2 by a PCR assay. Sequence analysis of the 349-bp stx1 from representative isolates revealed 100% homology with the sequence of stx1 available in the GenBank. Among the stx1 positive isolates, two harboured the eae but none were positive for hlyA, katP, etpD or saa genes. Fifteen of the 20 stx positive strains could be categorized into 13 non-O157 serogroups while 4 were untypable and one was a rough strain. Most of the STEC strains were resistant to ampicillin, cephalothin, co-trimoxazole, tetracycline, and nalidixic acid. In the Vero cell assay, all the strains were negative for expression of Shiga toxin (Stx). Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR analysis demonstrated genetic diversity. This is one of the first reports to show the presence of STEC in diarrhoeal patients in Bangladesh.

The art of talking to patients and their relatives does not come naturally to most of us and the ability to put oneself in the patients’ predicament is difficult particularly for the young doctors. To identify the communication abilities of the young doctors, a cross sectional study was carried out on 32 house officers who graduated from UKM in 2004 during their house jobs at different hospitals in Malaysia. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect the data. Fifty nine percent respondents claimed that they had communicated very well with patients while 69% with support staff and 88% with peers. On the other hand 38% and 41% of the respondents claimed they communicated very well with their superiors and families of patients. Only 22% of the graduates’ skills of communication in breaking bad news were very well, while 50% and 81% were very well in counselling patients and taking consent for procedures. Curriculum planners need to emphasize the importance of developing good communication skills in all aspects for the future doctors.

Inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions are a common group of diseases among the elderly, worldwide. They are characterized by articular degenerative changes accompanied with often debilitating pain. Treatments often involve life-long analgesic therapy or joint replacement in extreme cases. The aim of this current review is to look at the role of radiation treatment with the hope of further study into the effectiveness of radiation treatment in reducing pain, eliminate or reduce the need for life-long analgesic therapy and thereby avoiding the analgesics’ side effects. Extensive literature search was done on PubMed and other available data base and the findings are presented and discussed. Literature showed that many countries in Europe, especially Germany use radiation routinely for the treatment of many degenerative disorders including osteoarthritis with good results and few side effects. A pilot study is therefore recommended with a view to establish the effectiveness or otherwise of this treatment method in patients.