...Together let us build a generation that engages in evidence based healthcare...
QMed Knowledge Foundation: A Unique Change Making NGO in India
Health professionals want to find out the evidence of what works best, and offer patients treatment based on such evidence. They wish to stay updated with the latest research findings. How do they do this?
In India training to find updates and evidence is not part of the health sciences curriculum. As a result health science students and professionals waste hours searching for literature and evidence. Time that could be better spent in actual research, learning and practice!
QMed Knowledge Foundation is making a change. Since 2008, QMed has shared its skills in literature searching and referencing, conducting hundreds of workshops and lectures all over India.
The most common feedback was - “This should be a part of the curriculum; all of us need to learn this”. And in 2018, we launched our first Online Course. In 2019, we have added two more courses. Still more will follow in the future.
We believe in engaging with our target audience to take things ahead, so that the Indian population has access to evidence based healthcare. Together let us build a generation that engages in providing this access.
QMed’s Workshops/Lectures in Mumbai for this month:
Workshops: Half day interactive workshops at Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital on 2nd November and 5th November
Lectures: At Government Dental College
and Hospital on 6th November and MGM New Bombay College of Nursing
on 28th November
October-2019
Two New Online Courses Available!
QMed has added two new Online Courses – Mastering PubMed: Advanced and Reference Management with Mendeley. To register, visit https://qmed.mediknit.org When you register you get access to all three available courses. Our first course – Mastering PubMed: Basics is mandatory before you do either of the new courses.
Manipal Academy of Higher Education to make QMed’s Online Courses available to their students & faculty
We are delighted to announce that the Manipal Academy of Higher Education has signed up with us to make our Online Courses available to their faculty and students in three of their institutions – Kasturba Medical College Manipal, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore and Sikkim Manipal University, Gangtok. One thousand faculty plus students across these campuses will be able to enrol for our courses. MAHE is the first group of Academic Institutions to subscribe to our courses. Our courses are hosted with Mediknit, a Bangalore based entity that has helped several medical associations to create ELearning courses. We trust that this will encourage many more institutions to follow suit, to help their health professionals and students learn literature searching and reference management skills.
Holistic approach to education I recently happened to attend a “peer learning network session” where the participants were people from not-for-profit organizations worldwide. I attended this virtual session, not expecting much because I knew that the context of discussion would mainly be based on primary education. But to my surprise, the points discussed turned out […]
The Department of Biochemistry, D.Y.Patil Medical College, Kolhapur is organizing IABSCON 2020 from 27th to 29th Feb 2020 at Sayaji Hotel, Kolhapur. The Theme of the conference is “ADVANCES IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH-FROM BASICS TO TRANSLATIONAL. The conference will cover all the research areas like Laboratory Medicine/Quality Assurance, Metabolic Syndromes & Inborn Disorders, Cancer Biology and […]
Negative Effects of “Predatory” Journals on Global Health Research Forero DA et al. Negative Effects of “Predatory” Journals on Global Health Research. Ann Glob Health. 2018 Nov 5;84(4):584-589. PMID: 30779504 Our blogs have covered predatory journals earlier, but there is always more to learn on this topic. This article has a great abstract giving the […]
Enjoyed the simplicity of presentation and clarity of information .Thank you ma’am.
Comment received in Module 2 of the online course – Mastering PubMed:Basics
Dr Bhawana Thapa - Dept of Physiology, SMIMS
“Thank you very much Madam for making the Mendeley Reference manager so easy to use. Much benefited by this course”
Testimonial given for the Online Course – Reference Management with Mendeley
Dr Forhad Zaman - Prof, Dept of Community Medicine, SMIMS
“Excellent Madam, I am really enjoying this course. It is as if slowly the things are becoming more and more clearer”
Comment in the Online Course – “Mastering PubMed: Basics” – lesson – “Understanding Mesh”
Dr Forhad Zaman - Prof, Dept of Community Medicine, SMIMS
This was an afternoon well spent. I am sure this will help save many hours. Should be part of UG and more importantly for residents and PG teachers
Testimonial: Workshop at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai, 5th Nov, 2019
Dr Tushar Maniar - Pediatrician
I am an undergrad and would love to learn more and explore new courses.
Testimonial: Workshop at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai, 5th Nov, 2019
Shraddha Taral - UG Student
This course was an eye opener and I am hoping that I will definitely save some woman hours that I spent previously in searching relevant articles / literature. Thank you for using interactive methods to clear concepts. Would love to attend the Advanced sessions, once I have mastered the basics
Testimonial: Workshop at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai, 5th Nov, 2019
Dr. Leera Lobo -
There should be PubMed training every month for better learning of search & research
Testimonial: Workshop at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai, 5th Nov, 2019
Dr. Dnyaneshwar - PG Resident
This was a wonderful session and gave a whole different perspective to searching medical literature. Wish I had access tot his 15 years back while working on my PG thesis. QMed Foundation is doing great work. Best wishes to the team and a special thank you to Vasumathi Sriganesh
Testimonial: Workshop at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai, 5th Nov, 2019
Dr. Anuja Pethe -
Vasumathi Sriganesh thank you mam for making the workshop very simple and easier. I was under the impression i know how to use PubMed effectively. But today you made me understand how much more effective it can be.
Testimonial: Workshop at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai, 2nd Nov, 2019
Sheik Abdul Khadir - Physiotherapist
Thank you ma’am for this amazing workshop. Didn’t know how to access and use the different options available on PubMed before this. A must -attend lecture for all UGs
Testimonial: Workshop at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai, 2nd Nov, 2019
Anveshi Nayan - UG Student
I saw the video lectures on how to search for medical literature and I want to salute you for your clarity, expression and above all the humongous effort to make the video on such an important topic. I have immense respect for what you have done. May God bless you
This testimonial was given for our Online Course
Dr Sarfaraz J Baig - Bariatric Surgeon
“This is something that I feel all medical students – especially post graduates should know. However it is one of the most underrated aspects of medical education.
The course was flawless.”
This testimonial was given for our Online Course
Mohit Gupta - Surgeon & AMASI Member
“Vasumathi and QMed provide essential services for the medical community, and the impact is worth every dollar donated and more.”
This testimonial was in response to our GlobalGiving report :
I am extremely thankful for investing precious time in clearing our queries about systematic reviews
Dr Shruti wrote this in our Visitor’s Book after having a mentoring session. She is an MDS student. She came with two colleagues – Dr Burhanuddin and Dr Rex who also expressed similar sentiments
Shruti Vichare - Dentistry
Listening to Ms Vasumathi and the QMed journey was incredible. I had an opportunity to understand a new field of work. Wishing the organization the very best in their endeavours
Sukanya works for iVolunteer, Mumbai and wrote this in our Visitors book
Sukanya Sudarson -
Testimonial given at a workshop conducted in ICMR Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar
This I think was a much needed workshop for the researchers as well as students – especially pursuing Public Health Courses. The students and faculty of medical colleges and nursing institutions should undergo this training program.
Subrata Kumar Pal - RMRC, Bhubaneswar
Testimonial given at a workshop conducted in ICMR Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar
The PubMed course should be included in the UG curriculum as a health information retrieval course – as an elective module along with the foundation course. I have attended a few such workshops before as a participant and resource person as well, but this workshop touched me. I am very much influenced by your style of presentation and demonstration, I would love to associate with your online course. Thank you
Srikanta Kanungo - RMRC, Bhubaneswar
Testimonial given at a workshop conducted in ICMR Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar
Excellent teaching. We need to take the E-learning course to refine and update our knowledge and skills. If RMRC does as an institution it is well and good, otherwise we can pay and be the member. We may need help while we will be doing literature search. Best Wishes.
Madan Mohan Pradhan - RMRC, Bhubaneswar
Testimonial given at a workshop conducted in Breach Candy Hospital
This course was an eye opener. It is a must for undergrads. Have just learnt how to save hours and hours of time by attending this course. A big thank you to madam
Dr KJ Dastoor - Laparoscopic Surgeon, Member of AMASI
It was overall an amazing experience. Very informative and hands on experience gave me a very good idea about PubMed and Mendeley. Would definitely come back for more such workshops. Thank you so much for your time and patience
- PG Student, Mumbai
This is the best adult learning workshop I have ever attended. Dr Manasi Padhyegujar – SMBT Medical College, Igatpuri. Participant of the workshop conducted during the IAPSM-IPHA conference – 8th Feb 2019
Dr Manasi Padhyegujar - SMBT Medical College, Igatpuri.
Testimonial for our ELearning course – “Mastering PubMed”
“PubMed is one of the most important courses I could complete last fortnight. I could treat many of my blind spots related to PubMed searching.”
Dr Shriniwas Deshpande - Laparoscopic Surgeon, Pune, Member of AMASI
“I am happy to inform you that with your support we have improved the session on Literature Search in our Postgraduate orientation program. Since this year, it is now mandatory for our PGs to document their search strategy in their literature review section of their proposal. I look forward to see this happen properly. It has been a good learning for me too.”
Dr Amol Dongre - Dean of Research of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry
I could not have done my MSc thesis without your help! I have never done a systematic review and the literature search for doing one is a daunting task. Thank you for all the hand holding.
Dr. Priyadarshini Kulkarni -
I was able to work on my thesis protocol very quickly. In fact I was the first one to get the Ethics Committee approval and submit the protocol + synopsis to the University. This, I must say is only because of QMed’s workshop.
Dr Rukman Mecca -
I consider myself really lucky to have found you and the QMed team, early in my career. I have done multiple projects with proper referencing and literature searching, winning commendations everywhere.
Anmol -
Loved it!! Would have stayed in the stone age (with regards to PubMed) had I not attended the workshops! Loved the resource persons!!
SIMSCON 2016
Sriram Prasad - UG student
Searching the literature is a crucial part of training to be a good researcher, whatever the area of research. The American Thoracic Society’s Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical & Operations Research (MECOR) Program trains Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep physicians to do high quality research in these subject areas as a way to improve health and the delivery of health care in low and middle income countries. QMed provides an important part of the MECOR Program Courses as literature searches are an essential component of research training.
Sonia Buist - Professor Emerita of Medicine, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University
It was a fun session (Mastering PubMed – Basics). I learned new methods with a hands on experience. Would recommend the workshop to everyone in the medical field. It makes PubMed searching fun and easy!
Saurabh Patil - MBBS
This workshop has taken using the Cochrane Library database to a whole new level or three! Improved my knowledge and ability to search/make sense of the data. Ability to look at systematic reviews and also clinical trials. Excellent all round. Now have to put to practice.
Dr Jeremy Johnson - Emeritus Consultant in Palliative Medicine Director of Education and Research Karunashraya, Bangalore
An Excellent workshop on Literature Search and Reference Management. I am in my first year of MD and this workshop has happened to me at the right time, since I would need to know a lot of Literature Searching for my thesis in the coming 2 more year of MD. This will definitely help in reducing the wastage of time in Literature searching and reference management. Mrs. Vasumathi & Mrs. Lakshmi were very clear and concise in their lectures and very patient in teaching us the concepts. The best part was the hands on experience for the same. Thanks to Mrs. Vasumathi and Mrs. Lakshmi for the very interesting and educational experience.
Dr Ganesh Nair - PG
Thoroughly enjoyed the course. Learnt a lot and I will make it a point to practice. I am sure it will help reduce the effort and time in searching articles.
Suraj Panjwani - Pre-PG student
Very good. Such workshops should be conducted every year for new PG residents. Keep it up
Dr Namrata Tendulkar, NKP Salve , Nagpur - Gynaecology
This is a wonderful workshop; It makes our work dead easy and narrows down our search, Workshops based on theoretical knowledge can be learnt from various sources but QMed workshop must be conducted in order to narrow down our search and save our precious time.
R Merlyn Sniky - UG student
I attended a workshop by Vasumathi ma’am of QMed on Literature Searching. I went in, feeling quite sure I was doing it right!. But, by the end of the four-hour session, I was humbled. I realized till I attended the workshop, I had been using these amazing online tools much like a Palaeolithic man uses stone instruments!!
Pranab Chatterjee - Final Year Resident - Community Medicine
This session was extremely useful and I have found a new game to play with i.e. “PubMed”! Wish this was presented to us in 1st year of MBBS.
Dr Ashish Singh - Student-PG
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-PG student
It was amazing, the sheer man-hours it saves is incredible. A real tragedy that quality of work suffers because we are ignorant about how to use technology. It should be part of MBBS curriculum right from first year, so that it promotes an aptitude for evidence based medicine and research and changes the outlook of students who otherwise consider literature reviews to be tedious and time-consuming. Best of luck. Looking forward to the other courses and e-learning.
