Medical, Dental, and Nursing Students’ Experience with Virtual Practical Sessions: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Developing Country

Abstract

Samir Al Bashir,1 Nosayba Al-Azzam,2 Lina Elsalem,3 Aya Al Smerat,2 Husam K Haddad,4 Jomana Alsulaiman,5 Khalid A Kheirallah,6 Karem H Alzoubi7,8 1Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 2Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 3Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 4Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Ministry of Health, Amman, Jordan; 5Department of Pediatrics, Medical School of Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan; 6Department of Public Health, Community Medicine and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 7Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacotherapeutics, College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; 8Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, JordanCorrespondence: Samir Al Bashir, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, 22110, Jordan, Email [email protected]: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the scope of healthcare education and shifted the teaching methods from on-campus to virtual. The impact of such a shift has rarely been investigated, and limited evidence exists about students’ experience in terms of effort made and time spent, especially for laboratory sessions. Assessing students’ experiences will provide paramount evidence to fine-tune laboratory virtual learning sessions.Objective: To assess students’ experience of virtual (online) laboratory sessions versus on-campus laboratory sessions, including preference, time spent, the effort made, ability to remember instructions, and preference for future teaching.Methods: A cross-sectional study was utilized. A Google Forms questionnaire was prepared and sent to medicine, dentistry, and nursing school students registered at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) during the 2019/2020 academic year. Self-reported preference, time spent, efforts made, ability to remember instructions and preference for future teaching were assessed for virtual versus on-campus anatomy, pathology, microbiology, histology, and physiology laboratory sessions.Results: A total of 455 students participated in this questionnaire. More students in histology (55.2%), pathology (57.4%), and microbiology (55.3%) laboratories, but not anatomy (39.6%) physiology (443.95), reported preferring virtual sessions over on-campus sessions. More students from histology (35.6%) and microbiology (37.0%) reported spending less effort than on-campus sessions. More than half of the participants agreed that virtual laboratory sessions consumed less time than on-campus sessions. Participants reported that they cannot remember the instruction given during virtual teaching compared to on-campus teaching. Differences in students’ experiences were detected by gender, major, and year of study.Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to change the future of healthcare education, and preparation for future crises is paramount. Effort made, time spent, ability to remember, and preference for virtual education should be considered in terms of gender, major of study, and year. These differences should also be reflected in the planning of virtual sessions for effective implementation.Keywords: medical students, COVID-19, laboratory sessions, virtual environment, on-campus sessions, Jordan

Keywords

• medical students
• covid-19
• laboratory sessions
• virtual environment
• on-campus sessions
• jordan