Zarrin Seema Siddiqui

This narrative reflects on the enduring impact of two words: 'too late' when spoken in clinical encounters. Prompted by the case of 21-month-old Sandipan Dhar, who died in Australia, the author draws parallels with a family tragedy earlier in Pakistan. In both cases, parents seeking urgent care not only endured the loss of their child but also remember words that deepened their grief, guilt, and helplessness. These traumatic incidents highlight how language, even when clinically accurate, can leave emotional wounds that persist for generations.

Background Student experiences have a key role in their choice of Psychiatry as a career. Recently there has been a move to provide early clinical experiences which may vary from a day to a week. The purpose of this study was to describe the student experiences of an early clinical placement in Psychiatry at a medical school in Australia. Results A qualitative analysis of student reflections in their longitudinal portfolio was undertaken to elicit student’s perceptions of the placement. Five themes emerged which relate to the placement, patient interactions, consulting style, health systems and the intention to choose psychiatry as a career in future. Conclusion Early clinical placements in Psychiatry when designed carefully provide a meaningful learning experience for medical students as well as may lead to subsequent career choice.

Objectives: There is heightened intrigue surrounding the application of arts‐based pedagogy in medical education. Art encompasses multiple forms of expression and is used to convey specific meaning and emotion, whereas provoking critical reflection. Our aim was to explore the effectiveness of art and reflective practice in medical education, in the context of the ED.Methods: Longitudinal methodological study design. Prior to the first, and after the final clinical practicum, medical students watched a 3‐min film: ‘The Art of the ED’. Written reflections focused on changing perceptions towards the film during their medical education programme. Data were thematically analysed.Results: Three themes were collected from 25 written reflections and included: ‘professional growth’ exploring personal and professional development across the medical programme; seeing ‘patients are people’; and the purpose, structure and function of an ED exposed in ‘the reality of ED’. Results highlight that arts‐based pedagogy can facilitate meaningful and critical reflection in medical students, whereas also fostering professionalism. Reflecting on the film broadened their perspective into a realm of new possibilities, challenging them to identify implicit bias around ED, and promote professional identity formation.Conclusions: The combination of art and reflection in medical education enhances reflective learning and can lead to transformative change, including the development of core doctoring values of service, empathy and respect for patient. There are clear benefits to medical education incorporating more arts‐based pedagogy that promotes reflective exploration and interpretation of the psychosocial context of health and illness, delivery of more holistic models of care and their role as doctors.

Portfolios have been used in health professions for many decades as a means of documenting reflective practice that inform change, supports the understanding of professionals’ development needs and changing care options for clients. Electronic versions of one’s portfolio of evidence or E-Portfolios became more prevalent in the early 2000s as a repository to store evidence and reflections. However, in recent years E-Portfolios have evolved from a repository to an articulation of authentic learning and development. Introduction of a range of E-Portfolio technology options, hosting systems and increasing professional/ethical standards, has resulted in challenges and opportunities for academics and professionals to meet increasing requirements for teaching and support of students training for health professions. This paper explores twelve tips explained and justified in a Health Science context, designed to support students developing and using E-Portfolios to fulfil professional standards, show evidence of reflective practice and culminate in securing a job in their field.

COVID-19 has transformed the education sector and all stakeholders have to play their role in adapting to the sudden emerging needs. This transformation was more critical for health related disciplines as both students and faculty were at the forefront addressing the education, and clinical care needs. In this short communication, the author presents a learning moment amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This experience made her realise the changing role of medical students and how academics also need to feel supported at tough times.

Background & Objectives: Pakistan faces a number of challenges in medical education. While there is an increase in the number of medical schools across the country, there is a dearth of practicing doctors in rural areas as well as a shortage of specialists in various fields specially in surgical specialties. Similarly, the number of doctors migrating overseas is also increasing due to security concerns. This requires investigation of the factors that influence career intentions of medical graduates in Pakistan. As there is no validated instrument available within Pakistani context, this qualitative study was designed to examine medical graduates’ reasons for their career intentions in light of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Methods: Five focus group discussions were conducted in two cities of Pakistan i.e. Karachi and Hyderabad during November – December 2012. These were then transcribed and were coded into the three primary attributes of TPB i.e. behavioral, normative and control beliefs by comparing similarities and differences. Results: The results suggest that there is a variation in the factors that influence the career intentions of the medical students. In addition a number of new themes were identified which have not been reported earlier in studies elsewhere and are specific to this region. This needs further examination by stakeholders for intervention. Conclusion: The analysis of data from the focus groups confirms the theoretical framework and identifies a range of influencing factors, at different stages of education and practice. As the study was limited to a smaller number of graduates and all except one graduate wanted to continue practice, a larger sample may be required for the purpose of generalization of the findings reported in this study. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.5.465 How to cite this:Siddiqui ZS. Exploring the career maze: An investigation of career intentions of medical graduates in Pakistan: A qualitative study. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(5):1456-1460. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.5.465 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Objective: The aim of this study was to introduce new approaches to conduct qualitative research that may provide valuable insight into issues related to education, training and patient care in psychiatry. Conclusions: A variety of data-collection tools is available for researchers and practitioners in psychiatry. These can be used independently or in conjunction with other quantitative and qualitative methods.