Distance Learning in Medical Education: COVID-19 Pandemic - Contingency Plan or a Paradigm Shift?

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected virtually all aspects of human life including the domain of education. All tiers of education are in a process of transition to the diverse modes of online teaching/distance learning. Certain geographic regions and areas of study are particularly vulnerable to these challenges. The countries with lower economic development have evident deficiencies in the Internet access, computer literacy and professional qualifications of teachers and students essential for successful implementation of online teaching forms. While certain specialties in higher education (less technologically dense) are still relatively well-off in terms of effectively shifting to distance learning, medical education with its technologically sensitive academic process faces major difficulties. This is especially true about teaching clinical sciences, where immediate supervision and attendance has been considered as a core requirement. By assessing own experiences and published data, it is our belief that the following steps should be made by nations (with the particular reference to low middle income countries) and institutions: 1. More thorough, robust and inclusive research should be done in order to reveal as many technically and “ideologically” fit solutions for ensuring the smooth transition to e-education; 2. Official authorities should think creatively while revising/determining the status of e-education, so that where possible, it may replace traditional modality of education in technically and legally organized ways and bureaucratic resistance has to be meaningfully minimized; 3. The governments need to obligate and incentivize HEIs for introducing realistic and comprehensive “contingency and business continuity plans” especially tailored to the requirements arising from global public health emergencies.