Abstract
BackgroundThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) brought several challenges in medical education. The aim of our study was to investigate whether virtual distance trainings (VDT) organized during the COVID-19 pandemic at our university were effective in replacing in-person bed-side education in intensive therapy and anaesthesiology among fifth-year medical students, both from students’ and instructors’ perspectives.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study consisting of three parts: a 20-item students’ questionnaire filled out by students participating in VDT, a 22-item instructors’ questionnaire filled out by instructors taking part in virtual distance education and a 20-item knowledge test completed by students participating in VDT, as well as by students visiting bed-side trainings (BT) during the same semester, before COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaires focused on effectiveness, content, self-preparedness, technical background and interactivity of VDT. Instructors’ and students’ responses given to the common questions, as well as the knowledge test results were compared. Mann-Whitney U test was used for group comparisons and binary logistic regression was performed to analyze the influence of previous health-care experience on students’ feeling of self-preparedness.ResultsOne hundred thirthen students (response rate {RR}: 68%) and 29 instructors (RR: 97%) filled out the questionnaires. The majority of students found our VDT useful and effective; however, a considerable number of participants felt disadvantaged by taking VDT instead of BT sessions and would recommend keeping virtual distance education methods combined with BT. Instructors found VDT overall effective and deemed the transfer of their knowledge satisfactory; however, they described worse interactivity and contact with students during virtual sessions compared to in-person teaching. Instructors showed a clearer consensus that VDT should not replace BT in the future, while students’ answers were more divided in this regard. Previous health-care experience did not influence students’ feeling of self-preparedness.One hundred and twenty-seven students (56 after VDT {RR: 34%}; 71 after BT {RR: 67%}) completed the end-of-semester knowledge test. Students attending VDT performed better than students visiting BT (median score VDT:83.5 vs BT:77.3; p = 0.015).ConclusionsVirtual distance learning incorporating virtual practice sessions was effective in maintaining continuous education of intensive therapy and anaesthesiology among fifth-year medical students during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) brought several challenges in medical education
The majority of participants felt disadvantaged by taking the virtual distance trainings (VDT) as opposed to the traditional bed-side trainings (BT) and would not recommend replacing BT with VDT in the future
Our institute changed the presentation of Intensive therapy and anaesthesiology (ITA) curriculum and chose to develop a hybrid course with VDTs and virtual distance lectures during the restrictions combined with in-person simulation sessions and one visit at the intensive care units (ICU) delayed until restrictions were lifted
Summary
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) brought several challenges in medical education. The aim of our study was to investigate whether virtual distance trainings (VDT) organized during the COVID-19 pandemic at our university were effective in replacing in-person bed-side education in intensive therapy and anaesthesiology among fifth-year medical students, both from students’ and instructors’ perspectives. Several countries, including Hungary, chose to introduce drastic measures to slow down the spread of the virus and to “flatten the curve” based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) [1] One of these actions was the temporary closure of universities with the option of either creating a rapidly developed online educational material and/or postponing in-person education until the improvement of the epidemic situation [2]. Countries affected by a large number of COVID-19 cases suffer from lack of human resources in the intensive care units (ICU), diminishing teaching capacity This is a field requiring theoretical knowledge, but clinical skills and hands-on experience as well, the transition of the curriculum to a fully e-learning platform is quite difficult even at the undergraduate level [3, 4]
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