Mehwish Farrukh  ( Fourth Year Medical Students, KMDC. )
Aiyesha Nasir  ( Fourth Year Medical Students, KMDC. )

Madam, through your esteemed journal we would like to share our experience of the workshop on Research Methodology and Writing conducted by Pakistan Association of Medical Editors (PAME) in collaboration with Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medical Editors (EMAME). We attended this one full day workshop conducted at Isra Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology in Ibrahim Eye Hospital, Memon Goth, Karachi on Saturday 21st June 2014.
The workshop was attended by 50 participants. Facilitators included Dr. Fatema Jawad, Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid, Prof. Sina Aziz, Dr. Syed Muhammad Mubeen and Dr. Yasmeen Wajahat. The Host faculty included, Vice Chancellor of Isra University Prof. Ghulam Qadir Kazi, Vice Chancellor Prof. Umar Ali Khan and Prof. Saleh Memon from Isra Postgraduate Institute of Opthalmology, Prof. Seema Mumtaz and Prof. Kazi Shakoor of Isra Unviersity.
This was the first academic activity initiated by executive president of PAME Dr. Fatema Jawad. After the preliminary pre-requisites including welcome address and Tilawat, an introductory speech was delivered by Prof. Saleh Memon in which he accentuated that Pakistan\'s performance regarding medical research and publications is inadequate as compared to other countries in South-East Asia and this has resulted in low quality articles being published. Also Pakistan\'s contribution in internationally published articles is not up to the mark. We need to improve our research arena and quality of research in order to increase scientific publications, which may indirectly help us in patient care.
Prof. Saleh Memon added that Health care professionals do tremendous work in medical research but what they lack is proper documentation. For conducting research it is extremely important to determine the problems in ones own community, to decide the study design, analyze and interpret the data and try to find out the answer through paper writing. He also explained to the participants the scope of workshops in the field of medicine. After that he introduced PAME team of facilitators and extended a warm welcome to PAME and thanked them for holding the workshop on medical writing at the premises of their institute.
Thereafter, Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid highlighted the aims and objectives of PAME which includes promoting the art of scientific publishing. He also briefly talked about the historical background of PAME and mentioned about the accomplishments and auspicious achievements of PAME to date. Dr. Fatema Jawad President PAME and Editor-in-Chief of JPMA then made a presentation on Standardized Scientific Reporting Methods which was followed by all standard journals. She also proclaimed the most important aspect of research project, the epidemiological study designs and standard protocol used to write structured abstract and introduction according to uniform guidelines provided by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Dr Fatema also gave a brief account on MeSH keywords which are being neglected in our research literature. Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid described in detail along with interactive discussion the recipients queries how to write methods and results sections of a manuscript and emphasized that the result section should answer the research question of the study conducted.
Prof. Sina Aziz session included writing skills and the approach in writing and formatting the discussion section, conclusion and acknowledgement. The areas to be covered in the discussion, conclusion and acknowledgment were highlighted in terms of what should be included and excluded, for example the results should not be mentioned in the discussion section. Dr. Sina also emphasized that writing skill is an art and like all skills it has to be practiced.
Dr. Syed Muhammad Mubeen demonstrated via live internet connection on how to write the well-known styles of references and explained Vancouver Referencing system used by most journals. End Note the most efficient referencing management software currently available, was also explained in detail and participants were given an exercise for practice purposes.
The presentations were followed by a lively discussion, monitored and facilitated by the PAME team. Post lunch, two abstracts prepared by the participants were discussed. First abstract was related to a Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) study regarding the knowledge of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in the selected households of Memon Goth and was discussed in detail, while the 2nd Abstract was on Acceptance of Laser Treatment by patients with sight threatening diabetic retinopathy. Both the abstracts were reviewed in detail and authors were guided how to shorten them so that only pertinent, details related to the study objective, methods (study design) results, conclusion and key words should be included in the abstract section of the article. This hands-on exercise shown on multimedia was very effective in conveying a message to the participants and was appreciated (as documented by the feedback forms, later reviewed by the PAME team).
In the end Prof. Saleh Memon thanked PAME and its team of facilitators for selecting Isra Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology for its first academic activity this year by the new cabinet and hoped that this cooperation and collaboration would continue in future as well. Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid on behalf of PAME thanked the management of Isra University and Ibrahim Eye Hospital for their hospitality. Certificates were also presented to the workshop participants. Delightful cultural shawls were presented by the host to the PAME team which included the Sindhi Ajrak for the ladies and Sindhi cap for the men.