A cross-sectional study of online medical education in the COVID-19 era

Introduction: COVID-19 infection forced many alterations in our daily life, and continuation of classes by online mode is one of them. The effect of online classes on medical students has not been evaluated in our setup. This study was conducted to assess the medical student's perspective on the usefulness of online teaching. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of undergraduate medical students was conducted through an online link-based Google Form from November 28 to December 3, 2020. Anonymous responses were collected and evaluated. The values are presented in numbers and tables. Results: A total of 329 datasets were received. Of these, 318 were included, and the remaining 11 were excluded. The smartphone was the most common gadget used for attending online classes (261, 83.7%). In 164 (57.2%) students, the routine lifestyle was grossly affected. The student complained of visual (183, 58.7%) and concentration (168, 53.8%) discomfort. Two hundred and seven (65.7%) students did not found online classes to be as efficient as traditional offline classes; however, 191 (61.2%) students stated that they might be interested in listening to lectures on interesting topics by experts from other reputed institutes. Conclusion: In the current circumstances, online classes are considered a stopgap measure for the continuation of teaching, but physical classes are preferred in this field. More time may be needed to overcome the problems faced due to the online system.