Education India Project #14455

Helping medical students become better doctors

by QMed Knowledge Foundation

Project Report | Jun 30, 2015
Two workshops for medical students! And more to come!!

By Vasumathi Sriganesh | Project Leader

Students at Kolar working at an exercise

We did it! After a struggle to get together a batch of (undergraduate program) medical students in an institution, we have now conducted two workshops for our favourite target audience. We are thrilled that we could use your contributions for these workshops. In April we did a workshop for about 25 medical students at a pre-conference workshop. This was just before a conference for medical students at the Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, near Bangalore. In June, we did a similar workshop in Sri Manakula Vinayakar Medical College, Pondicherry.

In the recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of conferences for medical students. And the emphasis on teaching research at this level is also slowly increasing. What makes us delighted is that every conference has considered having our workshop as a preconference event, and have invited us on their own! We have three more such workshops for medical students in the pipeline, until August.

Here is some feedback from students who attended the last two workshops:

As a student I have not been exposed to the research side of medicine. However, this workshop has taught me that I need not be afraid of the vast literature that the internet research community holds but to embrace it completely. Thank you for providing me with this confidence and initial knowledge and skill to begin imagining the possibility of research.
When I registered in this workshop, I had nil knowledge about PubMed and QMed etc. This workshop created a ground for me to know many newer things and to get an idea on research side. I have learned many things which I can implement for my future use.
Very useful in organizing and searching for references for research purposes which had previously been a very haphazard process for me. This session helped me realize how important the process of referencing and citations was to the research process.
This is the first class I listened fully in my life time.

Thanks again for your contributions which have made such changes! We look forward to your continuous support. We would love to share with you, our journey of creating doctors who will give better professional care through research and evidence

Vasumathi

Pondicherry - with student volunteers

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Apr 3, 2015
I dreaded searching for articles, but now my problem is solved! I am now motivated to read more.

By Vasumathi Sriganesh | Project Leader

Vikramjeet, Rajavee and Prapti solving a query

We are delighted to share that we have recently had a steady trickle of students and recently qualified professionals for our workshops. Most of them have heard about our workshops and enroled. One of them told us that he had searched for workshops on research, found our website and learned about our workshops and brought a friend along to learn literature searching!

Let us share the story of Prapti, Rajavee and Vikramjeet who attended our workshop in March. Here is what they wrote:

I always dreaded research for two things, one searching for articles and two statistics. Problem one is solved thanks to this session. I am sure it will motivate me to read more and hence generate some meaningful research - Prapti - Psycho Oncologist

Thank you so much for helping me make sense of it all! - Vikramjeet Kakade - Pre-residency student

It is a very good learning workshop. I believe it is the first and the very important step to pursue your interest in research and even for the students who have been allotted research projects - Rajavee Panchal - Pre-residency student

With every workshop we conduct for medical / pre-residency students, we are more and more convinced that they need these skills before joining residency. And we want medical schools to recognize this and ensure that they get to learn these skills. At this stage, they absorb what they learn, very quickly and ask questions for even more learning. As they go higher, with patient responsibilities, the learning gets tougher.

The good news is that with our efforts, we are constantly being invited to deliver lectures or conduct workshops during conferences / events for medical students. I recently delivered a lecture at a conference in our city. In April, May and June we will be conducting one workshop in each month in different cities in India at such events.

Thanks to you - our donor - and many lovely friends like you, we are able to reach out to more medical students.Some of you have chosen to be 'recurring donors' and that has helped us keep our "Leader" status on GlobalGiving. This means that our chances of being recommended to corporate donation programs is better.

Would more of you become recurring donors? Do check out the option. We could really do lots more more with your help.

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Dec 31, 2014
With QMed's training - one paper accepted for publication and two more in the pipeline!

By Vasumathi Sriganesh | Project Leader

Dr Amitabh Sen

This was a mail we received from Dr Amitabh Sen, who recently qualified as a Cardiac Anesthesiologist

“I had no idea about how to do a proper PubMed search, about Cochrane reviews and Reference Managers till I attended a workshop conducted by QMed. The workshop really helped me improve my research skills and this learning was of immense help while I was writing my manuscript. It has been accepted for publication in the next issue of the Annals of Cardiac Anesthesia. I have also been working on two separate papers, one of which I will be submitting to a high impact factor journal. I do hope to get it through. I sincerely thank QMed for helping physicians and medical students in this country which is still lagging far behind in medical research”

Amitabh Sen had attended QMed's workshop in 2013 when he was still training in his specialty, at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, a premier medical institution in Kochi, India. When he wrote to us now, we were very happy to know that our workshop made such a difference to him! And we know that he in turn will make a difference to students he will guide, in the coming years. Thank you Amitabh Sen for sharing this development with us and thank you donors for helping us make such an impact.

Our workshops have made a difference to many. And so, in the coming year, we hope that we will reach out to a much larger target with the E-Learning courses we are painstakingly creating. We started the project in January 2014. We are keen to launch it soon. We have had hurdles and delays, some anticipated, and some unexpected. We are also constrained by being a small team working on a mega project. It would have been wonderful to have had at least two more hands! However our grit and determination is strong and we are committed to getting the E-Learning portal working in the first half of 2015.

We do need more support for this big project. We have raised about $4000 (through GlobalGiving - UK and US) in December 2014 and we are going to need more for some time. The good news is that we believe that in about a year after we launch the E-Learning courses, the project can become self-sustaining.

Till then will you help us create many more Amitabh Sens - who will in turn guide many more students to publish Indian research?

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