Anatomy education of medical and dental students during COVID-19 pandemic: a reality check
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Anatomy education of medical and dental students during COVID‑19 pandemic: a reality check Anjali Singal1 · Agam Bansal2 · Priti Chaudhary1 · Harsimranjit Singh1 · Apurba Patra1 Received: 18 August 2020 / Accepted: 30 October 2020 © Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose During this forced down-time of COVID-19 pandemic, shift to virtual anatomy education is the solitary solution to support the learning of students. The purpose of this study was to understand the visible and invisible potential challenges being faced by the 1st year medical and dental students while attending digital anatomy classes. Methods The present study was conducted on 81st year medical and dental students who were admitted to their respective college in August 2019 and were willing to participate in the study. A multiple choice close-ended questionnaire regarding their opinion on virtual classes was designed and feedback was taken from the students. Results Majority (65%) of the students agreed that they missed their traditional anatomy learning i.e., dissection courses, face to face lectures and interaction with mentors. The students strongly felt the lack of confidence and difficulty in the topics completed without dissections, models, microscopic slides and other modalities. 83% felt lack of proper gadgets, high-band width and strong internet connections, a potential barrier in their digital learning. Lack of self-motivation was felt by 69% students. Conclusions The current situation of anatomy education is not intentional, and is not the long term silver bullet solution for a visual subject like anatomy. Though learners face a lot of challenges, however, a shift to online must be supported at this time of health crisis. As the digital learning may go for indefinite period, the feedback of students may be helpful for relevant and timely modifications in digital anatomy education. Keywords Anatomy education · COVID-19 · Dissection course · Students · Virtual classes
Introduction Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2), the culprit for the pandemic COVID-19, first emerged in China, in late 2019 [13]. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak as “public health emergency of international concern” on January 30, 2020 and as pandemic on March 11, 2020 [20]. The government of India imposed mandatory lockdown on March 24, 2020 for 21 days which was extended till 31st May. On June 1, 2020 the government started unlocking the country in different phases. All the educational institutes including medical * Anjali Singal [email protected] 1
Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda, Punjab 151001, India
Department of Internal Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OHIO, USA
2
colleges are still closed [8, 17]. The significant concern is to contain the spread of COVID-19. The virus is changing the world and human lives, medical education is no exception. Anatomy is the foundation stone of medical educati
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