Medical Education and E-Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic: Awareness, Attitudes, Preferences, and Barriers Among Undergraduate Medicine and Nursing Students at Makerere University, Uganda.

COVID-19 Medical education Uganda attitudes challenges e-learning medicine and nursing students

Journal

Journal of medical education and curricular development
ISSN: 2382-1205
Titre abrégé: J Med Educ Curric Dev
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101690298

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Historique:
received: 25 08 2020
accepted: 22 10 2020
entrez: 7 12 2020
pubmed: 8 12 2020
medline: 8 12 2020
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Given the dearth need for healthcare workers in the control of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, e-learning has been adopted in many settings to hasten the continuation of medical training. However, there is a paucity of data in low resource settings on the plausibility of online learning platforms to support medical education. We aimed to assess the awareness, attitudes, preferences, and challenges to e-learning among Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) and Bachelor of Nursing (B.NUR) students at Makerere University, Uganda. An online cross-sectional study was conducted between July and August 2020. Current MBChB and B.NUR students aged 18 years or older constituted the study population. Using Google forms, a web-based questionnaire was administered through the Makerere University mailing list and WhatsApp messenger. The questionnaire was developed using validated questions from previously published studies. Overall, 221 participants responded (response rate = 61%). Of the 214 valid responses, 195 (92.1%) were Ugandans, 123 (57.5% were male, and 165 (77.1%) were pursuing the MB ChB program. The median age was 23 (18 to 40) years. Ownership of computers, smartphones, and email addresses were at 131 (61.2%), 203 (94.9%), and 208 (97.2%), respectively. However, only 57 (26.6%) respondents had access to high or very high quality internet access. Awareness and self-reported usage of e-learning (MUELE) platforms were high among 206 (96.3%) and 177 (82.7%) respondents, respectively. However, over 50% lacked skills in using the Makerere University e-learning (MUELE) platform. About half (n = 104, 49%) of the students believed that e-learning reduces the quality of knowledge attained and is not an efficient method of teaching. Monthly income (

Identifiants

pubmed: 33283049
doi: 10.1177/2382120520973212
pii: 10.1177_2382120520973212
pmc: PMC7682244
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

2382120520973212

Subventions

Organisme : FIC NIH HHS
ID : R25 TW011213
Pays : United States

Informations de copyright

© The Author(s) 2020.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of conflicting Interests:The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Auteurs

Ronald Olum (R)

School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Linda Atulinda (L)

School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Edwin Kigozi (E)

School of Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Dianah Rhoda Nassozi (DR)

School of Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Alzan Mulekwa (A)

School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Felix Bongomin (F)

Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda.

Sarah Kiguli (S)

Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Classifications MeSH