BACKGROUND: In the advent of coronavirus disease 2019 global crisis, hands-on patient care and inhospital training of fourth year medical students were suspended across the globe and shifted to remote online education. The aim of this study is to assess the perception and attitude of the 4th year medical students about clinical clerkship training during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An online survey was sent to fourth-year medical students in three medical schools in lloilo City, from July 2021 to October 2021. The survey questionnaire is a combined dichotomous, multiplechoice, and Likert response scale questions. RESULTS: Of the hundred sixty-eight students who completed the online survey, sixty-six percent did not experience hospital rotation. On average, students were very interested in COVID-19 (8.83) and willing to join in patient care if requested by a hospital or university to help during COVID-19 pandemic (8.65), but felt they were not ready (70%) due to a lack of the ability for clinical practice (90%). Most (82%) of the students expressed they wanted to maintain hands-on clinical practice education despite the pandemic. Overall, students who have experienced hospital rotation have a higher level of understanding of how much their life, behavior (9.30), and role as a medical student (9 .74) were affected by the pandemic as compared to the rest of the students. CONCLUSION This present pandemic has affected the medical students as a whole in areas of their role as students, behavior, and life. Their lack of confidence despite willingness to help correlated to their inadequate clinical experience. Specific policy adjustments concerning the curriculum of clinical clerkship during this time of pandemic should be revisited to tailor fit the students" needs for safe education to help them prepare to become a competent medical practitioner.
Attitude

BACKGROUND

Several studies have shown the serious implications of malnutrition, yet it is still underestimated, understudied and an undertreated problem in hospitalized patients. It remains a challenge for hospitals in the Philippines. Pre operative malnutrition is a risk factor of perioperative morbidity and mortality. Thus, assessing the pre operative nutritional status is necessary in planning early nutritional interventions and may predict risk of developing postoperative complications.

METHODOLOGY

A prospective cohort study was conducted among adult patients ages 18 to 70 years old admitted for abdominopelvic surgery at St. Paul’s Hospital Iloilo from January 2021 to January 2022. Within 24-48 hours of admission, patients’ demographic and clinical profiles were identified and the presence of nutritional risk was evaluated using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST). Further statistical analysis was done using cross tabulation, and Pearson’s chi-square and logistic regression.

RESULTS

The study demonstrated that nutritional risk, age, presence of malignancy, smoking and alcoholic beverage drinking were significantly correlated with post-operative complications.

CONCLUSION

Nutritional risk screening using MUST pre-operatively can help predict the outcomes of post-operative patients undergoing abdominopelvic operation.

Human ; Nutrition Assessment