Quality and Effectiveness of Online Medical Education During COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

Introduction: Necessity is the mother of invention, is not only an English language proverb but it has been proved several times in several ways, and recently it has been proved during this COVID-19 outbreak that online medical education has erupted as one of the inventions during these stressful situations as a necessity. In these difficult situations, universities seek to deliver medical education through various new methods or modalities, to ensure the continuous learning of medical students. Novel ways of online teaching should be considered in new medical curriculum development, as well as methods of delivering lectures and practical skills for medical students. In this pandemic situations, medical faculty administrators also had to improvise to make an adjustment, from the formerly class-based lecture to online lecture. This study aimed to measure the perception of medical students regarding the quality and effectiveness of online medical education during COVID-19 Pandemic. Materials and Methods: This study was held in Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad, from April 2020 to August 2020. This is a cross-sectional survey done by using an electronic questionnaire which was based on the result of previously conducted lectures, practical, and small group discussions. It is carefully checked for validation and reliability before considering it for a study. Questionnaires were made on Google Forms and then this e-questionnaire was sent via WhatsApp to all of students. All the data were collected, tabulated, and analyzed. Results: Three hundred and ninety-nine number of students responded to the electronic survey conducted via WhatsApp. Students' perception about the effectiveness and quality of medical online education revealed few supportive and few inhibitory factors. Conclusions: Data obtained in this study can be used as a valuable input to judge the effectiveness and utility of the online methodology in the future.