Behaviors and problems of a medical school students’ related to distance education in pandemic medical education in the pandemic process

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: In a medical school, to determine whether students have the necessary infrastructure for distance education, students’ access to educational materials, the concerns and expectations of students about the process. Methods: First, second, third, fourth and fifth-year students, continue through distance education in the pandemic process in Cumhuriyet University Medical School, were included in the study. 336 students volunteered to participate in this descriptive research. The data collection tool used in research was created by the researchers. The data collection tool created by the researchers consists of 24 questions that the descriptive variables of students, their study status and problems in distance education process. Results: Students’ 91.4% entered the university’s distance education module. 82.1% of them stated that they studied less than the old working program during this process. Participants’ 19.3% did not have a suitable study environment at home, 19.6% of them did not have a computer and 12.2% of them had an irregular internet connection. There were significant differences between the presence of a suitable environment for home study (p=0.001), the internet access status (p=0.004) and the frequency of study. The answers given by students to the question of their concerns/problems related to this process; concerns about the distance education module (not getting feedback, problems with material adequacy, etc.) (42.3%), the lack of training (39.0%), concerns about the exam (28.9%), decreased will to study (16.7%), fail the class/low grades (14.6%) were gathered in these main categories, respectively. Participants’ 76.5% felt the lack of occupational practice. 61.6% of them demanded the increase of multimedia items in the materials uploaded to the system. Conclusion: Depending on the pandemic, the duration of distance education process remains uncertain. In this process, especially in occupational practice-oriented faculty such as medical faculties, students have concerns related to these deficiencies. In addition, when planning distance education, faculties should consider students’ availability of having devices and internet access.