What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical Teaching
The pandemic forced final year clinical students in six health-profession programs in a Caribbean University to suddenly transition from a clinical learning environment to an exclusively online environment for clinical instruction. The change in curriculum delivery allowed students to compare teachi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-09-01
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| Series: | International Medical Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2813-141X/2/3/21 |
| _version_ | 1797579577588973568 |
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| author | Sandra D. Reid Bidyadhar Sa Stanley Giddings Reisha Rafeek Shala Singh Patrick Harnarayan Niall Farnon |
| author_facet | Sandra D. Reid Bidyadhar Sa Stanley Giddings Reisha Rafeek Shala Singh Patrick Harnarayan Niall Farnon |
| author_sort | Sandra D. Reid |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The pandemic forced final year clinical students in six health-profession programs in a Caribbean University to suddenly transition from a clinical learning environment to an exclusively online environment for clinical instruction. The change in curriculum delivery allowed students to compare teaching of clinical skills using clinical and online learning environments. In June 2020, 278 students (78% response rate) completed a survey rating the online teaching experience. Students from each discipline also participated in a focus group discussion. Of the sample, 88% of students felt that the online environment was enthusiastic and stimulating but did not view it as satisfactory for skills transfer; 77% felt connected with their teachers but deprived of the social connectedness, peer support, and vicarious learning afforded by face-to-face instruction. Clinical students perceived the online environment as a convenient and beneficial platform to deliver didactic components of the clinical curriculum, thus providing downtime for students and ensuring equitable exposure of all students to all teachers. In the post-pandemic era, medical teachers should make the effort to maintain and refine online approaches, not just for use in times of emergency, but for integration into curriculum delivery strategies to improve the clinical learning environment and student satisfaction, while maintaining the hands-on method of clinical instruction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:38:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-54c0147e0117447ca83e03bea12b429b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2813-141X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:38:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-54c0147e0117447ca83e03bea12b429b2023-11-19T11:13:20ZengMDPI AGInternational Medical Education2813-141X2023-09-012321923110.3390/ime2030021What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical TeachingSandra D. Reid0Bidyadhar Sa1Stanley Giddings2Reisha Rafeek3Shala Singh4Patrick Harnarayan5Niall Farnon6School of Medicine, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and TobagoCentre for Medical Sciences Education, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and TobagoSchool of Medicine, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and TobagoSchool of Dentistry, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and TobagoNorth Central Regional Health Authority, Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and TobagoSchool of Medicine, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and TobagoOptometry Unit, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and TobagoThe pandemic forced final year clinical students in six health-profession programs in a Caribbean University to suddenly transition from a clinical learning environment to an exclusively online environment for clinical instruction. The change in curriculum delivery allowed students to compare teaching of clinical skills using clinical and online learning environments. In June 2020, 278 students (78% response rate) completed a survey rating the online teaching experience. Students from each discipline also participated in a focus group discussion. Of the sample, 88% of students felt that the online environment was enthusiastic and stimulating but did not view it as satisfactory for skills transfer; 77% felt connected with their teachers but deprived of the social connectedness, peer support, and vicarious learning afforded by face-to-face instruction. Clinical students perceived the online environment as a convenient and beneficial platform to deliver didactic components of the clinical curriculum, thus providing downtime for students and ensuring equitable exposure of all students to all teachers. In the post-pandemic era, medical teachers should make the effort to maintain and refine online approaches, not just for use in times of emergency, but for integration into curriculum delivery strategies to improve the clinical learning environment and student satisfaction, while maintaining the hands-on method of clinical instruction.https://www.mdpi.com/2813-141X/2/3/21COVID-19 pandemiconline clinical teachingclinical learning environmentmedical educationeducational equityCaribbean |
| spellingShingle | Sandra D. Reid Bidyadhar Sa Stanley Giddings Reisha Rafeek Shala Singh Patrick Harnarayan Niall Farnon What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical Teaching International Medical Education COVID-19 pandemic online clinical teaching clinical learning environment medical education educational equity Caribbean |
| title | What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical Teaching |
| title_full | What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical Teaching |
| title_fullStr | What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical Teaching |
| title_full_unstemmed | What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical Teaching |
| title_short | What the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught Medical Educators in the Caribbean about Online Clinical Teaching |
| title_sort | what the covid 19 pandemic taught medical educators in the caribbean about online clinical teaching |
| topic | COVID-19 pandemic online clinical teaching clinical learning environment medical education educational equity Caribbean |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2813-141X/2/3/21 |
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