ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic affected undergraduate medical education worldwide. By March 2020, colleges in India had to close following a national lockdown. Most of the colleges including ours started using e-platforms. Our earlier studies highlighted concern for lack of patient examination in clinical settings and successes of the online teaching programmes were limited to didactic teaching. The year 2020 also was the year in which the National Medical Commission (NMC) introduced a competency-based system, which was new to all stakeholders. We assessed the impact of Covid-19 on the ongoing teaching pattern in our institute. Actual coverage of theory classes and practical/clinical teaching sessions were gathered from departments across all years of undergraduate medical education and the gap percentage was calculated against the NMC/ Medical Council of India requirements. The gap percentage was calculated as missing classes divided by required classes multiplied by hundred. The heads of departments were consulted, and details of theory, practical and clinical classes taken for each batch before and after lockdown were gathered using a questionnaire. These were compared against the mandated teaching by the NMC guideline for theory, practical and clinics. The results showed a gap ranging from 2% to 83% for theory classes, the least being in anatomy and the highest being in medicine. As there were no practical or clinical sessions during the lockdown, the gap was zero. Various challenges were faced due to online medical education. There was a dilemma over choosing the type of training that would produce adequate numbers with low quality or a delayed training but of assured quality. Various solutions including suspending the ongoing course and converting it to short-term skill training sessions to deal with pandemic care and strategies to improve online teaching were considered.
ABSTRACT
Kerala shows women favourable demographic data. Rising feminisation among Kerala medicos was reported recently. Scientific studies on sex representation at various levels of medical education are scanty. This study is first of its kind from Kerala. Registration details of admitted students to various medical courses conducted by all colleges affiliated to KUHS in 2011 were examined for sex distribution. The sex ratio– number of females per 1000 males–for UG, PG Diploma, Degree and Super–specialities were calculated. The PG students were further grouped as preclinical and clinical; and medical, surgical, Paediatrics or Gynaecology. The data is presented in the table and sex ratio is presented in graphs. The sex ratio was 2099 for MBBS, 1847 for PG Diploma, 1107 for PG Degree and 139 for PG Super–specialities. Progressive fall in women favourable sex ratio from UG to super–speciality levels observed. It dropped from PG non–clinical to PG clinical subjects, but increased from surgical specialities to Medical specialities; in Paediatrics and sharply in Gynaecology. Female doctors suffer more gender discrimination than male doctors. They integrate family responsibilities with career, necessitating flexibility of work. Today’s medical profession may be a male–favoured one. Perhaps empowerment of women starts from the lower strata of society and progress up. Drop out of women lead to lose of potential talent. Alternative work schedules, optimization of maternity leave and child care opportunities are required to support women in medicine. Changes in health care policies are needed to balance between work and home. This study was based on already available data. More focussed studies with robust methodologies are suggested.