Covid-19 Impact on Medical Students and education in India

Medical education in India has experienced a serious unquiet amendment as a consequence of the COVID-19 Pandemic and nation-wide internment.

Covid-19 Impact on Medical Students and education in India

Measures to stop unfold and thence to confirm social distancing have led to the closure of medical faculties and have compelled things to function from home for each medical academics and students. The majority of undergrad students of medical faculties are settled in their homes, leaving their hostels simply before the start of lockdown, of local, interstate, and international travel. Thus, leaving routine didactical lecture classes, practical, tutorials, seminars, clinical (ward, the outpatient department [OPD], and OT) postings and internal assessment examinations. On the opposite hand, even the physical attendance of medical teachers/clinicians at workshops, CMEs, symposia, and conferences, has ceased. The uncertainty of scenario throughout this era within the country thanks to COVID-19 Pandemic has led several medical faculties and health universities to initiate steps to start out teaching and learning using varied on-line platforms on their own, as there have been no definitive directives aside from the encouragement to initiate the utilization on-line teaching strategies from either Medical Council of India (MCI) or the other statutory bodies. However, recently the Board of Governors in Suppression of MCI has created some amendments within the conduct of postgraduate examinations that were alleged to be completed by May 2020 by creating some relaxation within the provision of appointment of external examiners, so examinations will be completed by June 2020 throughout this pandemic time.

Teaching Methods During Pandemic

At present, undergrad teaching is being conducted in varied ways using varied on-line platforms by several medical faculties with no uniformity. Few faculties are still exploring online teaching platforms, and few have already chosen the most effective online platform and invested within them. In such a complex scenario, for our rescue, the trial access/free version of varied on-line streaming/conferencing tools and free/less expensive net data packages from telecommunication firms have created its potential to succeed in individual students and teach them. All of those teaching/learning tools are simply accessed, even from mobile devices. Above all, varied publishers have started providing free access to e-resources materials, as well as e-books, e-journals, and databases throughout this pandemic time.

Various challenging Situations being faced

There is a requirement for multiple studies, to be conducted across the country to understand the effectiveness of such teaching and learning tools each from students and medical academics. One positive observation is that technology is getting used apace and innovatively to stay continued teaching and learning. Still, we do not apprehend once our medical faculties are about to begin full-fledged routine as antecedent was done. the long run of medical education is unsure once the pandemic resolves, however many potential teaching and learning technologies are out there if adequately explored. The employment of emerging technology for education, like AI for adaptive learning and virtual reality, are terribly possible to be essential elements of the transformative amendment and therefore the way forward for medical education. A major challenge for medical academics within the present times is to replicate the expertise of clinical exposures. These exposures vary from OPD and ward postings, wherever they're going to have interactive communication with patients and with academics throughout case presentation sessions, helping within the improvement of communication and clinical skills. At present, videos, podcasts, easy virtual reality, and pc simulations are commencing to be accustomed to assist academics and facilitate student learning and coaching in these areas. easy on-line platforms, like websites and blogs, will offer basic data however conjointly provide opportunities to host videos for demonstrating essential skills, like procedural clinical skills and communication. The introduction of competency-based medical education within the undergrad course of study needs regular assessments of student accomplishment. Medical faculties have a good challenge to watch student performance or to carry massive scale examinations. Formative and additive assessments for core information have begun to use a range of online tools and platforms. The variety is from websites, discussions forums, and on-line discussion areas to real-time on-line chat and communication apps.

At least we are able to say that the method of transformation within the magnified use of technology in medical education is, in its early part, with a speedy and progressive individual and collective acceptance by each medical academics and students. There’s conjointly the commitment of medical faculties to the employment of technology to boost teaching and learning. This transformative amendment is also embedded for good with previous teaching modules in the near future, by giving larger stress on on-line learning and therefore the use of mobile devices to switch face-to-face cluster teaching and conferences. The medical teachers/educators can have to be compelled to develop and implement innovative solutions in response to the present demand for the use of technology to arrange for the future.