The Effects of COVID 19 in Medical Education in Nepal

Vikash Paudel,Deepa Chudal

doi:10.37080/nmj.118

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unparalleled disruption in all forms of the scientific learning processes including medical education. The disease has caused deaths and serious comorbidities and presents challenges for all scientists, educators and students. This viewpoint discusses the current status of medical education in Nepal, describes how COVID-19 have affected medical education, theory and practical classes and internship learning environments, and explores potential implications of COVID-19 for the future of medical education.

Highlights

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unparalleled disruption in all forms of scientific learning process including medical education and healthcare all over the world.[1]
Widespread interruptions to medical education, scientific discussion, conference and seminars have been seen at times of major conflicts and pandemics in past as well which resulted in major changes in medical curricula.[3]
Students are required to stay at home and to abide by social distancing guidelines.[6]. These challenges have resulted in limited patient care due to the focus on COVID-19 patients, which restricts the availability of bedside teaching opportunities for medical students

Summary

Introduction

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unparalleled disruption in all forms of scientific learning process including medical education and healthcare all over the world.[1] The disease has caused deaths and serious comorbidities and it presents challenges for all the scientists, educators and students.[2] Widespread interruptions to medical education, scientific discussion, conference and seminars have been seen at times of major conflicts and pandemics in past as well which resulted in major changes in medical curricula.[3] Most of the educational institutions including medical colleges and hospital with teaching learning facilities in Nepal till the beginning of COVID-19 were based solely on traditional methods of learning, faceto-face lectures in a classroom, direct patient encounter in outpatient departments and indoors. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 shook the entire system leading to complete change in teaching learning patterns, patient encounter and physical distancing.

Results

Conclusion