Shehata, M. H.; Abouzeid, E.; Wasfy, N. F.; Abdelaziz, A.; Wells, R. L.; Ahmed, S. A. Medical Education Adaptations Post COVID-19: An Egyptian Reflection. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 2020, 7, 238212052095181. https://doi.org/10.1177/2382120520951819.
Shehata, M. H.; Abouzeid, E.; Wasfy, N. F.; Abdelaziz, A.; Wells, R. L.; Ahmed, S. A. Medical Education Adaptations Post COVID-19: An Egyptian Reflection. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 2020, 7, 238212052095181. https://doi.org/10.1177/2382120520951819.
Shehata, M. H.; Abouzeid, E.; Wasfy, N. F.; Abdelaziz, A.; Wells, R. L.; Ahmed, S. A. Medical Education Adaptations Post COVID-19: An Egyptian Reflection. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 2020, 7, 238212052095181. https://doi.org/10.1177/2382120520951819.
Shehata, M. H.; Abouzeid, E.; Wasfy, N. F.; Abdelaziz, A.; Wells, R. L.; Ahmed, S. A. Medical Education Adaptations Post COVID-19: An Egyptian Reflection. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 2020, 7, 238212052095181. https://doi.org/10.1177/2382120520951819.
Abstract
Coronavirus (COVID19) appears to be an inflection point that is forcing a disruption in medical education. However, it is not clear what the responses of the institutions are to this pandemic and how the adaptation of new methods may impact medical education in the post COVID-19 era. Objective: The study aims to explore how medical schools in Egypt responded to COVID-19 pandemic regarding the teaching and learning/assessment for undergraduate students. Design: A mixed method exploratory two-phase study was conducted. A survey was prepared and disseminated to a convenient non-probability sample of the medical school faculty through various social platforms. Then, a focus group guide was conducted to explore in more depth the findings. Results: The staff level of preparedness for that unexpected shift was evaluated by 55.1% of the survey participants as optimum to high and a good leadership support was reported by 70 % of them. They reported conflicting views about the proper role of medical education units but reinforced the idea of Egyptian Knowledge Bank’s crucial role in this transition. Additionally, there is a communication problem with the students that leads to their detachment. Subsequently, 84.6 % of the participants reported that their schools used alternative teaching methods for small groups, large groups, pre-clinical and clinical clerkships. However, 64.1 % of the participants identified a clinical skills teaching challenge. Although, 68.4% reported that alternative methods were used for formative assessment but absence of alternative methods for summative assessment was declared by 76.3%. Conclusions: Individuals moved faster than bodies and relied on support existing outside the universities when catastrophe happened. However, institutes which have experience in adapting modern engaging learning methods should organize a better response for crisis. Online learning should be integrated in the curriculum with a fair percentage especially in the early years of medical study.
Keywords
COVID-19; online learning; new teaching and assessment methods; medical education
Subject
Social Sciences, Education
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received:
17 June 2020
Commenter:
Hebat Allah A. Amin
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
This study is very useful for depicting the points of strengths and weaknesses in response to the pandemic crisis.
It can be inspiring to many researchers to study in depth the suggested points if evaluation.
"Individuals moved faster than bodies" is a very important point to study.
The institutions need more efforts in actualization of the medical education units and the individuals need more institutional support to build an effective taskforce.
Thanks for this initiative study.
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
This study is very useful for depicting the points of strengths and weaknesses in response to the pandemic crisis.
It can be inspiring to many researchers to study in depth the suggested points if evaluation.
"Individuals moved faster than bodies" is a very important point to study.
The institutions need more efforts in actualization of the medical education units and the individuals need more institutional support to build an effective taskforce.
Thanks for this initiative study.
Received:
18 June 2020
Commenter:
Nagwa Nashat Hegazy
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
Great work.It reflects the reality.
I had enjoyed reading the methodology and the results.
Institutions should take that inconsidration.
Thanks.
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
This study is exploring the advantages and limitations faced by institutions while responding to the pandemic crisis.
It is motivating for many other institutions to study their response and document similar study .
The take home message is that the success lies in the planning and selection of the task force
Very detailed and simple to follow methodology is the strength of this paper
Received:
18 June 2020
Commenter:
Salwa Fouad Ahmed Oshiba
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
Thank you for this amzing work. I enjoyed reading this subject that reflects the real dealing with the pandemic of COVID 19 in different educational institutes. Recommendations of this study are very beneficial as we need to make distant learning established in a good manar allover the world. Congratulations for all authors
Go on
Received:
18 June 2020
Commenter:
Salwa Fouad Ahmed Oshiba
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
Thank you for this amzing work. I enjoyed reading this subject that expresses dealing of different educational institutes to the pandemic of COVID 19. Recommendations of this study is beneficial to establish distant learning in a good manar with less drawbacks for students and staff members.
Really appreciated work
Congratulations dear colleagues
Received:
19 June 2020
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
Thank you for this great work,
Only few comments:
- the sampling details were not clear, I think we need to know how variant your participants are and this could add to the strengths of your study.
- your qualitative data needed to be discussed in a separate section and I expect that it should interpret some results of the quantitative one.
Commenter: Hebat Allah A. Amin
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
It can be inspiring to many researchers to study in depth the suggested points if evaluation.
"Individuals moved faster than bodies" is a very important point to study.
The institutions need more efforts in actualization of the medical education units and the individuals need more institutional support to build an effective taskforce.
Thanks for this initiative study.
Commenter:
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
It can be inspiring to many researchers to study in depth the suggested points if evaluation.
"Individuals moved faster than bodies" is a very important point to study.
The institutions need more efforts in actualization of the medical education units and the individuals need more institutional support to build an effective taskforce.
Thanks for this initiative study.
Commenter: Nagwa Nashat Hegazy
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
I had enjoyed reading the methodology and the results.
Institutions should take that inconsidration.
Thanks.
Commenter:
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
It is motivating for many other institutions to study their response and document similar study .
The take home message is that the success lies in the planning and selection of the task force
Very detailed and simple to follow methodology is the strength of this paper
Commenter: Salwa Fouad Ahmed Oshiba
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Go on
Commenter: Salwa Fouad Ahmed Oshiba
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Really appreciated work
Congratulations dear colleagues
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Only few comments:
- the sampling details were not clear, I think we need to know how variant your participants are and this could add to the strengths of your study.
- your qualitative data needed to be discussed in a separate section and I expect that it should interpret some results of the quantitative one.
Overall, thank you for this important research.