Using online medical education beyond the COVID-19 pandemic - A commentary on "The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: Adaptations in medical education".

Dear Editor,

We read with great interest the commentary article by Alsafi et al. on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education [1]. They highlighted the necessary educational changes actioned by medical schools around the world, most pertinently the widespread use of online teaching through video calling software, as well as digital summative examinations in lieu of the traditional practical examinations. This commentary sheds light on how COVID-19 will affect medical education in the future in terms of integrating online learning to traditional didactic teaching methods.

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions were forced to entirely substitute hands-on clinical learning with online teaching in an attempt to maintain medical education in the unprecedented context of a global pandemic. It is understandable for concern to arise when only online teaching is used; however, it has been shown that knowledge retention is better in students who have a blended learning experience that combines both online learning (e-learning) and face-to-face teaching [2].

Within the medical student community itself, e-learning has been viewed positively for a long time; a study by Ruiz et al. fourteen years ago found that medical students viewed e-learning as an excellent supplement to their education, rather than an entire replacement for face-to-face clinical learning. Warnecke et al., in 2009 found that students viewed e-learning as an “enjoyable and effective” method to improve consultation skills [3,4]. It is clear that online teaching methods have existed for a long time and are popular amongst medical students.

Knowledge outcomes in medical students are also better when e-learning is applied appropriately. A systematic review by George at al found that medical students who had e-learning showed better knowledge gain, increased skill acquisition with no effect on attitude of students towards patients, in addition to better student satisfaction. They concluded that online learning could be as effective, if not more so, than traditional teaching methods [5].

Going forward, medical schools should consider online delivery of certain elements of their curriculum. One could argue that COVID-19 has merely expedited the integration of modern technology into medical education and there is strong evidence in its favour. Whilst e-learning cannot entirely replace hands-on clinical learning, the view that e-learning should be used in addition to face-to-face teaching has existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic. The accelerated integration of technology into medical education due to COVID-19 may not be as temporary as was expected in the early stages of the pandemic. It will be fascinating to observe whether medical institutions retain large elements of online teaching methods to deliver their curricula to their students.

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Author contribution

SO Cheng conceptualised and wrote this letter to the editor. A Liu contributed background research and helped to write this article.

Guarantor

SO Cheng and A Liu accept full responsibility for this work.

Declaration of competing interest

There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.