Perception and Attitudes of Medical Students on Emergency Medicine Course in the Era of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University
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Keywords
COVID-19, Knowledge, Attitude, Perception
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted international healthcare systems and medical school programs, necessitating an increase in the number of requests for medical students to serve as primary healthcare practitioners.
Aim: The study aimed to improve the quality of emergency medicine education amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and alike.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of the opinion of undergraduate and postgraduate medical students on emergency medicine education during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey consisting of three fields and fourteen items was administered to assess the self-assessed perceptions and attitudes of 290 medical students regarding clerkship training in hospital practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: Depending on whether they had enrolled in the clinical clerkship course, the 290 medical students who responded to the survey were split into two groups. 150 (51.7%) students were in the fourth and sixth-year pre-clerkship group, while 140(48.3%) students were postgraduate. The mean age of the participants was (23.5 ± 1.8 years), 64.8% were males and 35.2% were females. (51.3%) believed that their knowledge of COVID-19 was ‘above average’ or ‘far above average. During the clerkship training, students’ perception of the SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility was higher (53.5%). (5.2%) students were not satisfied with the postponement of the academic calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the students were concerned that the virus could spread during clinical clerkship training (68.4%), (1.7%) of their families were not concerned and 58.6% of students found the quality of training would be reduced due to COVID and 41.3% found their experience will be increased. More than two-thirds (75.9%) of the medical students surveyed believed that the postponed academic calendar had a significant impact on their way of life. The majority of students believed that in cases where the clinical clerkship training was changed to an online class at home, participation in or understanding of the class would be significantly reduced.
Conclusion: In situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students should be allowed to actively participate in hospital practice while adhering to stringent safety protocols aimed at preventing viral infection and transmission. This can be achieved by developing educational strategies for clinical clerkship training
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