CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF MEDICAL EDUCATION UNDER CONDITIONS OF CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19) PANDEMIA

Abstract

The article analyzes how higher medical education is currently undergoing a gradual butsignificant change to the transformation into online learning adapt accordingly in orderto fulfill the core competencies of medical training and to provide quality education tomedical students during the COVID-19 pandemia.Objective – to study the challenges and opportunities faced by medical schoolsin introduction of the remote learning for basic science teaching in response to theCOVID-19 crisis.Conclusions. Despite the pace of this transition, both formal and informal studentfeedback indicated that students have an extremely high level of satisfaction andengagement with online learning activities. The use of emergent technology (e.g.,artificial intelligence for adaptive learning, virtual simulation, and telehealth) foreducation is most likely to be indispensable components of transformative change andpost-COVID medical education. These measures could then be followed by hands-onexperience that is provided in a safe environment. As physicians begin to use telehealth(phone calls, video visits, and communication over online medical record applications)to communicate with their patients, students should be included (and instructed) in thislearning environment. It is likely that telehealth will persist long after the pandemicrecedes perhaps even as a preferred method of physician-patient interaction in somesituations. Therefore, it is essential that students graduate from medical school welltrained in telehealth including technological aspects as well as learning the mostprofessional models of the physician-patient distance interaction.