AAHCI-SEA Webinar – Medical Education during the COVID-19 Era: Adapt to the Change
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in major changes in the education system raising critical issues and concerns especially for medical schools. Bringing together experts from ASEAN member regions, the webinar Medical Education during the COVID-19 Era: Adapt to the Change was held on 08 June 2020.
Organized by the Association of Academic Health Centers International South East Asia Regional Office, the webinar presented the varied experiences of speakers representing three SEA countries.
UP College of Medicine’s Associate Dean for Academic Development Dr. Coralie Therese D. Dimacali spoke on the effects of the community quarantine on Philippine medical education, the challenges, and the strategies for transitioning to flexible learning.
From the rapid move to online classes, Dr. Dimacali recommended a review and redesign of the curriculum of medical schools to include outcomes to make blended learning succeed. She recommended a survey of students to identify their preferences for learning, to keep in touch with their educational needs, and to more efficiently utilize resources that they are more likely to use.
According to Dr. Dimacali, education without contact with patients is difficult. Hence, adaptability, flexibility, and discipline are important in these times to create efficient methods of learning. However, until an effective vaccine is found, she reckoned that teleconsults will have to make do for the new normal.
Finally, she stressed that the school should be able to provide reliable and supported instructional technology and train their faculty, students, and staff on flexible learning. Prof. Ian Curran presented the Duke-National University Singapore Medical School’s approach. They went on to utilize telemedicine, simulations, and simulated patients. These simulations were done to leverage for the intensive assessments their Ministry of Health requires of them to ensure that their graduates were assessed properly. These endeavors were conducted with minimal in-person student-to-examiner interactions, minimized number of simulated patients on-site, and minimized faculty and staff. Imparting the experiences of Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia,
Prof. Gandes Retno Rahayu reported the pros and cons of online learning based on their students’ feedback. Some feel that it was more flexible and relaxed. Many saw areas for improvements such as lessening the assignments and improving concentration. Some raised concerns on internet cost as well as the changing schedules.
Their methods of online learning involved synchronous lectures, recorded lectures, required reading, tutorials, and small group discussions. On the practical session, they provided video learning, quizzes to assess the comprehension, and discussions with the facilitator. They created the online platform called GaMEL (Gadjah Mada Medical ELearning) that provided resources for their student’s use.
Anne Marie Alto
Featured in UP Manila Healthscape (Special COVID-19 Issue No. 9, 18 June 2020)
