The Crisis of Medical Education in Primary Care Medicine Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic in a Malaysian Higher Institution

@#The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted the paradigm of health care delivery, but also the education of future health care providers. Medical faculties are compelled to cease all face-to-face teaching considering the threat of the virus. The ramification of distant learning was heavily endured by primary care educators who not only train the undergraduates but also future family medicine specialists. We have discovered that as a medical educator, it is important to continuously evolve and adapt to current situation. Even in the absence of face-to-face teaching, the primary care curriculum can be successfully delivered using the online platform. Here, we describe the crises faced in this endeavour, the solutions that were undertaken, and the advantages of virtual teaching which we hope will add value to primary care medical education.

The Primary Care Program of Undergraduate Medical Education / 医学教育

Primary care education is extremely important for undergraduate medical students. We evaluated a primary care program with fifth-or sixth-year medical students at the Hokkaido University School of Medicine from October 2002 through July 2003. The aim of this study was to examine differences in the medical situation between a university hospital and primary care clinics and to determine the importance of primary care. We assessed students' opinions about primary care on the basis of student reports. After completing this program, medical students (30.7%) believed primary care medicine was necessary, recognized the importance of the medical techniques, and were motivated to study primary care medicine (93.6%). The problems of this program were the short schedule and the cost of public transportation. We conclude that this primary care program is extremely effective for teaching undergraduate medical students about primary care medicine.

Development of a Format to Record Clinical Experiences of Trainees during the Initial Two-year Period of Postgraduate Clinical Training. A Study of the Validity and Reliability of Technical Items in the Self-reporting Questionnaire / 医学教育

A self-reporting questionnaire was designed and sent to our Jichi Medical School graduates each year since 1980, in order to investigate clinical competences attained in certain technical items. The responses from graduates of classes 1984 through 1987 were analysed, and the questionnaire was found to be highly reliable and moderately valid. The coefficient variable was 0.942, and the relevant variable was 0.934 using the half-split method. The content was clear, because items in the questionnaire were selected from published official reports. In the construction validity, 4 meaningful groups of items were found by factor-analysis. Yearly analysis using such a questionnaire may clarify some of the problems experienced by trainees and training hospitals, and would encourage the trainees to undergo a process of selfevaluation.

Development of a Format to Record Clinical Experiences of Trainees during the Initial Two-year Period of Postgraduate Clinical Training; A Study of Self-evaluation by Jichi Medical School Graduates / 医学教育

A self-reporting questionnaire was designed and sent to our Jichi Medical School graduates each year since 1980, in order to investigate clinical competence. The format was designed based on several major reports concerning postgraduate clinical training in primary medical care. We found that more than 70% of Jichi Medical School graduates trained in the multi-specialty rotation style in general hospitals that were certified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Our results also suggested that these graduates obtained a relatively high level of clinical competence in performing physical examinations, basic laboratory testing, clinical procedures, and various treatments.