We are happy and elated to report to you that in commemoration of our 95th anniversary, we will be proudly showcasing the works from our distinguished faculty and staff through a special issue of the Journal of Medicine of the University of Santo Tomas (JMUST). This issue contains a total of seventeen original articles which include five clinical research articles, six medical education research articles, three perspective articles and two reviews. We are deeply thankful to the editorial team and the members of our peer review committee, and to all authors who contributed to this issue. This is our tribute to you and to all the luminaries and leaders who followed you and led us to where we are today and who will lead us into the next ninety five years.

Internal Medicine as a medical specialization is as old as antiquity.  Medical specialization existed in the Hellenistic world and in Rome. This development during the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century is credited to the rapid expansion of medical knowledge which made it impossible for a single doctor to encompass all the different spheres of the profession.  With this historical perspective, we stand on the shoulders of giants: eminent pioneers, trailblazers, physicians and scientists of the previous centuries.

This article explores medical professionalism: its meaning, its core values and challenges in the time of Covid-19. Its aim is to help doctors and medical students improve their professionalism, and mature into more dedicated physicians who derive joy and pride in what they do. 

The USTH Chest Pain Pathway provides guidance based on current guidelines and recommendations on assessing and evaluating acute chest pain, tailored to local needs and institution-specific facilities. We recommend its use to ensure quality patient care in the hospital.

The history of physical diagnosis started with Hippocrates and his school. History taking, inspection, palpation, and sometimes immediate auscultation and examination of the urine are fundamental diagnostic tools. The Hippocratic Corpus and Galen’s authoritative theoretical writings dominate medical thinking for over 1000 years. Clinical examination advances through Vesalius and Morgagni’s discoveries of human dissection (1543) and pathologic anatomy (1761) respectively. The Vienna school through Auenbrugger introduces percussion in 1760. The Paris school formally establishes physical diagnosis with the invention of the stethoscope by Laennec in 1816.

This report elaborates and provides insight into what influences research misconduct, how it can be mitigated, and how to maintain a credible research environment.

There is little data in the literature regarding the experience of young physicians in establishing clinical practice. This study was undertaken to answer the central question: Among physicians in the field of Internal Medicine with or without subspecialty who graduated from training in 2013 to 2018, what were the issues and challenges that they faced as they established their clinical practice in the urban or mixed setting? 

The study aimed to gauge acceptability of a self-directed learning, recognize frustrations, identify coping mechanisms, assess rate of learning,   evaluate study habits and appraise level of readiness in handling actual patients later in practice among graduating medical clerks.

Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19) challenged the delivery of medical education and training, especially to the 4th year medical students. Medicine's signature pedagogy, the ward rounds in the hospital, was put on hold in compliance with safety precautions during this pandemic and the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) suspension of face-to-face classes in all levels.  How the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine & Surgery (UST FMS) Cardiology Rotation was delivered despite these restrictions is described.

Thus, the question of medicine being a profession or a business arises. The share of health expenditure in the GDP of the Philippines is 5.6%; health spending of Filipino household has been increasing recently, mostly spent for drugs and other medical goods. Could this be one of the reasons why more businessmen engage in building and operating a hospital?  And some doctors turning to become health entrepreneurs too?

Accurate detection of Helicobacter pylori (HP) is essential for the diagnosis of HP infection. The use of antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors (PPI) may give a false-negative rapid urease test (RUT) result. It is, therefore, suggested that histologic examination be done in combination with RUT. We aimed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of RUT compared with histology and assess the detection rate of combined RUT and histology for HP infection.

Double contour sign (DCS) is considered part of the new gout classification. This study aims to determine the agreement of blinded musculoskeletal sonologists in identifying the double contour sign among asymptomatic hyperuricemic patients.

The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of combining flipped classroom on pulmonary ultrasound instruction in first-year medical students with traditional classroom-based instruction and compared it to traditional classroom-based instruction alone. The insights of the teachers and the students on the implementation of both interventions were also evaluated.

PulmoSerye is a miniseries that followed the patient from initial consultation in the emergency room resulting in admission, events that happened in the ward, formulation of the Master Problem List, progress notes, giving discharge orders, writing the discharge summary, and finally a follow up via Telemedicine.

The objective of this study was to determine if online team-based learning (TBL) is effective in improving knowledge outcomes and confidence about hyponatremia in its clinical recognition, classification, diagnostic work up, and management among fourth year medical students

Teaching clinical skills to undergraduate medical students has brought significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patient discussion utilized hypothetical cases from history taking to diagnosis and management. Further, everything was delivered online. Target-Oriented Clinical Skill Enhancement (TOCSE) is a teaching and learning tool that integrates the basic medical sciences, such as anatomy, physiology, pathology, microbiology, and pharmacology, at the clinical level.

Weight loss, though difficult to attain and sustain over time, remains the cornerstone of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) treatment. We aimed to describe weight changes among NAFLD patients.

The Department of Medicine of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery was first formally organized by Dr. William J. Burke, who served as the head of the department until 1939.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented havoc in our lives and brutally forced us to confront our vulnerability and mortality. On
the other hand, it has compelled us to recognize that every person is created in the image of God and worthy of our respect and care.