Assessment and impact of a biosecurity course in raising the awareness of students at the Jinnah post graduate Medical Center, Pakistan

Abstract

IntroductionPakistan Biological Safety Association (PBSA) is a not for profit, nongovernmental, professional organization established in 2008 and is striving to promote and implement Bio risk management in Pakistan. PBSA accelerated its program for strategic training of the national life scientists from 2013 and is still working on that mandate with the help of Fogarty International Center (FIC) & National Institute of Health USA and other international organizations working on this Global Health Security Initiative and subsequently Agenda (GHSA) Aims & ObjectivesThis biosafety training program was developed for capacity building of M.Phil. and PhD graduates the future laboratory users of Basic Medical Sciences Institute (BMSI), Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center which is the largest tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan involved in Research &Development (R&D) in medical sciences. Materials & MethodsThis Pre post study was carried at Basic Medical Sciences Institute (JPMC), during the period of October 2018 to January 2019. A total of 48 (16 PhD. 32 M.Phil.) Grads students participated in the following study. The training program is administered through, custom made 4-month course having 16 contact hours also 4 hours of practical training. Training was evaluated using written assessment. The pre and post-training test was conducted after each session. Each test comprised of 15 multiple choice questions (MCQs) pre and post session making it 30 MCQs in total for each session. A final assessment consisting 30 MCQs conducted at the end of course. ResultsThere was vast difference observed in the post assessment results as compared to the pre assessment results. At the end of the course final assessment was carried out which gave an overall impression of vast change (83.3%) in awareness regarding bio risk management among the graduate students, which reflected the efficacy of this training. To ensure the validity of results and the intention to improvise the quality of course in future, feedback regarding the course and trainer was obtain through Likert scale. Reliability of Likert scale carried through Cronbach’s alpha, showed all variables with a maximum score of 0.9, indicating high reliability of the generated feedback evaluation. ConclusionThis study highlighted that through concerted efforts of professional organizations, proper awareness of public and concerned personals, regarding Biosafety & Biosecurity can certainly reduce the chances of errors and will ensure potential safety and security to the laboratory workers, community and environment, potentially exposed to these pathogens & toxins which are regarded as biohazards.