COVID Era: Rethinking Postgraduate Education

JOURNAL TITLE: Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Education and Research

Author
1. Chandni Sinha
2. Veena Singh
ISSN
2277-8969
DOI
10.5005/jp-journals-10028-1581
Volume
56
Issue
3
Publishing Year
2022
Pages
2
Author Affiliations
    1. Department of Anaesthesia, All Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar, India
    1. Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology (ICMR), Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Article keywords
    COVID-19, Medical education, Postgraduates

    Abstract

    With the number of patients suffering from COVID-19 increasing all over our country, many teaching hospitals are getting converted to dedicated COVID hospitals. This would mean admission of only COVID- proven/suspect patients with suspension of elective surgeries, preanesthetic clinics, chronic pain, and palliative clinics. Newly joined junior residents are being harnessed to meet the ever-increasing demand in critical care setups. This is a difficult situation as they not only have to provide optimum care to patients, but also work in stressful real-life scenarios. In 2003, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Hong Kong affected healthcare workers, and 17 medical students got infected. This led to the closure of the university. During this period, there was growth of technology-based learning as a continuum to clinical teaching. The various modalities used were webcasting, videotaped vignettes, audio recordings, problem-based learning tutorials on online chat rooms, and mannequin simulators. Though all these modalities sound impressive, implementing all these requires time, adequate resources, and planning. Implementing all these might not be feasible in the present scenario, but this pandemic has taught us one important lesson. It is time that the institutions and government develop and establish customized technology-based learning and assessment for the postgraduate students, in view of any future pandemics.

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