First Semester of Online Medical Education During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Single University Experience

Abstract

Our study evaluated the medical student's attitude toward online medical training implementation during COVID-19 lockdown in a single university. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to the undergraduate students at the Faculty of Medicine, Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania. Following a cross-sectional design, the study was carried out from May 20^th to August 20^th 2020. We studied the differences between the responses of Medicine students (Medicine) and other specializations (OtherS), respectively between three groups according to the year of the study (freshman - Fr first year, sophomores - So intermediate years, and seniors - Se last year of study). The Medicine students' attitude towards online professional education was significantly different than OherS (students with other specialties than Medicine) concerning 6 out of 11 questions (P-values < 0.018). Similar, significant differences were observed on 7/11 questions when comparing Fr, So, Se (P-values < 0.015), but only 4/7 differences were similar to Medicine vs. OtherS. The participants agreed that online education helped continue the academic year in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, but the medical skills development has suffered. Our study showed that students' needs, as well as their perceptions, are different both between specializations (Medicine vs. OtherS) as well as years of study (Fr, So, and Se).