Impact of COVID 19 lockdown on the study of medical students: A cross sectional survey

Abstract

Introduction: During the pandemic of COVID 19, the traditional teaching of MBBS students has been shifted to online teaching. We conduct an online survey to know and record the impact of COVID 19 lockdown on the study of medical students of GDMC, Dehradun. The present study aimed to investigate the MBBS student's perception of online teaching. The results of this study may provide further inputs which might be of help to the students and faculty for further informed decisions. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional online survey during July 1–7, 2020 was applied to 334 medical students to evaluate the perception of online teaching among medical students. A questionnaire was prepared in Google form and divided into two sections. The first part covered demographics information of the respondent and the second part assessed with behavior and attitude toward online teaching. Results: The mean assessment, behavior, and attitude scores have significantly differed across age groups and previous experience. The medical students who had no exposure to online teaching their assessment score is higher than who had little exposure also found to be significant. The participants were agreed with the teaching way of the course (59.3%) and with the content of the course (56.9%). Majority of participants (58.4%) also agree that there are barriers in online learning. Most of the students agree (62.3%) and strongly agree (61%) that the course allowed them to take responsibility for their learning. Conclusions: We can conclude that the online learning program is a good alternative to classroom teaching in this era of the COVID 19 pandemic. This study can provide the basic architecture for making further strategy of course content.