The need of the hour: Adapting the delivery of clinical skills teaching remotely

Abstract

As the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, the South African government enforced a nationwide lockdown in March 2020. The resulting closure of medical schools necessitated the provision of clinical skills teaching on remote platforms. This presented numerous challenges especially for skills that require face-to-face interaction and hands-on instruction. The Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal modified George’s (2001) five stage process and devised a framework for online small group skills teaching with the help of videos. The adapted method retained as close as possible the significant concepts and frameworks of conventional face-to-face programmes allowing for continuation of teaching under the current constraints.

Keywords

• Clinical skills
• Medical education
• Remote teaching
• Online/electronic learning