Donor Connect: Our fortnightly updates to donors
Dear Donors - In case you have missed any of our mailers, you could check this page and catch up. And if you are someone who has stumbled upon this page for the first time, we invite you to join us in our journey. Give us a donation to sustain our work. Contribute your time/ expertise. Connect us with people who matter - in the National Medical Commission / ICMR or any of the Councils. Help us reach medical / nursing / dental / pharmacy and other colleges. In short - Become a part of the history we are creating! We welcome you!
Nov 14, 2025: From Student to Cardiologist: A Journey that Began with a QMed Workshop
Date: Friday November 14, 2025
Category: Beneficiary story, Donor Story
Keywords: Literature searching, QMedCourses, Workshop
A few days ago, I received a LinkedIn connection request from Dr. Bhavik Shah, now a Cardiologist. What made this special was that I remember him from his medical student days — when he attended one of QMed’s workshops as a second-year MBBS student.
It is always heartwarming to see how our early participants have grown and evolved in their careers. And when they share how QMed played a part in their journey, it reaffirms why we do what we do.
Bhavik’s story is one such example — a reflection of how early exposure to structured literature searching can spark a lifelong engagement with research and evidence-based practice.
Here’s what he shared with us:
Thirteen years ago, attending a QMed workshop as a second year MBBS student marked a defining moment in my career, a moment that opened the door to the fascinating world of medical research. QMed, an NGO deeply committed to empowering young medical students, equipped me with invaluable skills, particularly the art and science of medical literature search, which has been a cornerstone of my research journey.
Understanding how to conduct an effective literature search is fundamental to any research endeavor. The QMed workshop was my first real exposure to this essential skill, teaching me not only how to find relevant scientific articles but also how to critically analyze existing evidence to identify research gaps and frame meaningful clinical questions. This early training was pivotal in building my confidence and competence to embark on research projects with a solid foundation in evidence-based medicine.
Inspired by the ability to navigate through vast resources of medical knowledge, I published my first case report in 2014 in the Catheterisation and Cardiovascular Interventions (CCI) journal. The paper, on intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) insertion through the right subclavian artery, was a product of both clinical insight and thorough literature review, a skill sharpened thanks to QMed. This initial success fueled my enthusiasm, leading to 11 more publications across diverse journals over the years.
The ability to perform comprehensive literature searches has not only supported my publications but has also enriched my clinical practice and teaching. It ensures that every decision, every hypothesis, and every recommendation is backed by the strongest available evidence. This habit of continuous, critical engagement with medical literature will always remain at the heart of my professional life. QMed’s role in making medical literature access and evaluation accessible to young researchers cannot be overstated. Such training fosters a culture of inquiry, rigor, and lifelong learning among budding clinicians. I am deeply grateful to QMed for empowering me with this skill early on, and I urge all young medical professionals to embrace the power of medical literature search as a gateway to impactful research and better patient care.
What a wonderful journey — and a proud moment for us at QMed! Stories like these remind us that when students are introduced to the right research skills early in their careers, the impact can last a lifetime
– Vasumathi Sriganesh –
Nov 01, 2025: Founder story: The Beginnings of our Evidence Based Searching
I would like to share a story of the year 2000. It actually is a part of the genesis of QMed. In that year, I had attended my first ever International Conference (the ICML or International Congress on Medical Librarianship). That year it was in London. I also attended a preconference workshop on “Critical Appraisal Skills” by a well known Informationist Prof Andrew Booth I have no hesitation in saying that this was a turning point in my career. I not only learnt the basics of Critical Appraisal, but for the first time, I understood that one could search the literature to retrieve only Evidence based publications.
On my return, I checked for online courses in this area and was thrilled to discover one – “Searching the Literature for Evidence Based Medicine”. I immediately enrolled for it (paying a princely $100 or $120 – I can’t exactly remember). It ran for a few weeks. It was a self paced ELearning course. The instructors were three librarians from the US & UK – all excellent. And after this – I have constantly learnt more and more on this topic.
Another interesting happening immediately after – The College of Dental Sciences at Davanagere, Karnataka announced a 1.5 day workshop on “Evidence Based Dentistry”. It was (obviously) for dentists. But I called the department and told them my background and they invited me to attend. At the event, I learnt that I was the first person to register for the course! (Not very surprising for the year 2000). Apparently the organizers had to appeal to the VC of the RGUHS to ensure enough participation.
What I enjoyed most was obviously the literature searching session. I was the only one who knew enough about searching PubMed to find relevant literature and evidence based literature. There were two International faculty from Europe – and they had only used Medline on CDs and were not familiar with PubMed. So everything they wanted to do – I had to “translate” to PubMed. It was fun to see PG students watching me in awe.
Well – this is only to highlight that in India, we have not given enough importance to literature searching. Not just in the year 2000 – and earlier, but even now. We need to do more. And that is what we at QMed are relentlessly pursuing. Ensuring that Literature Searching (and Referencing) are taught in all health sciences institutions. With True Passion!
The Violin Prodigy:
A young violinist once asked the world’s greatest teacher to judge his talent. After his passionate performance, the master simply said, “You lack the fire.” Heartbroken, the young man quit music and succeeded in business. Years later, he met the teacher again and asked how he had known he wasn’t meant for music. The teacher replied, “I tell everyone that—they quit if they lack the fire. If you had the fire, you wouldn’t have listened.” Lesson: True passion doesn’t wait for approval; it burns despite rejection.
– Vasumathi Sriganesh –
Oct 15, 2025: An Anesthesiologist saves a limb – thanks to search skills!
Date: Wednesday October 15, 2025
Category: Beneficiary story, Health Sector story
Keywords: Literature searching, QMedCourses
We recently got this story from – an anesthesiologist Dr Jitendra Bapat, who had not only attended our workshop but also organized one of ours at a preconference event last year. He is a major supporter of our workshops! He shared a case, where he truly felt the impact of our teaching. We are delighted to share this with our donors and supporters.
Hello from Dr Bapat. I must share this story with you.
While I was on an emergency duty, a patient’s arm turned blue after surgery. All his test readings appeared normal. A Doppler showed a venous clot, but the picture was confusing. I knew what anesthetic drugs he was administered for his surgery
Using the PubMed search skills I learned from QMed, I quickly found references to a rare complication—Purple Glove Syndrome—linked to IV phenytoin and worsened by his BP cuff compression. With this knowledge, we treated the patient immediately and saved his limb.
We later presented this case at a conference, where my resident won the first prize. Happy as we were, the real prize was the ability to make a life-saving decision with the skills to find the right evidence, at the right moment,
I am grateful to QMed for training me in focused searching—it made a very important difference.
We at QMed love such stories that show – that literature searching is a skill – useful not only in Academics and Research, but definitely in practice too!
– Vasumathi Sriganesh –
Oct 3, 2025: AI, Medical Writing and remembering Dr Sunil Pandya
Recently I came across a post in LinkedIn, where the author of the post Dr Rahul Gopal shared an image of an article in a journal of a prestigious publishing house. The introduction began with “Certainly, here is a possible introduction to your topic….” And Dr Gopal writes about how the author has obviously used AI to write. But not just that, – there had been no checking, and the peer reviewers and editor/s apparently let this slip by.
My thoughts wandered to more than two decades ago when I was invited to attend a meeting of Editorial board members of several medical journals in Mumbai. It was an informal event running through two afternoons. Important to mention – this was just before Internet access became public and the Internet itself was at a rather nascent stage.
Every member present shared the challenges that their journals were going through, in terms of getting high quality articles. A lot of brainstorming was done to see how the situation could be made better. Towards the end, the group invited Dr Sunil Pandya to share his wisdom. For those who have not heard of Dr Sunil Pandya – he was a Neurosurgeon, ethicist, prolific writer and medical historian. He was the head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, Mumbai, and founding editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics.
His answer was crisp – he was not a man who minced words. He said, “I will give you the answer, but it is not practical” – and went on to list:
- About 90% of Indian journals must close down.
- Their topics should be absorbed by the other 10% of Indian journals
- Every issue must accept only top articles, which means an issue might have only one or two articles
- When all these journals show that they mean business, only then we can really improve!
Of course he then added the problems – that no journal would get advertising revenue etc. The meeting ended with people having got some solutions, but certainly not all.
Recently, I shared the above with a good friend – Dr Supten Sarbadhikari. He said “Today I will say that this is applicable for many non Indian journals too!”
Food for thought!! This example shared by Dr Gopal emphasizes it further. And I wonder – if Late Dr Sunil Pandya read this – how he would cringe!
Note: the article that was mentioned at the start has apparently been later retracted
– Vasumathi Sriganesh –