ABSTRACT
Introduction: Parallel to past technological revolutions, along with existing pandemic crises has made digitally assisted tools, and formats for e-learning an essential component of medical Curriculam. This current study objectives were to find out the opinion of the students about the use and efficacy of the distance learning tools during the Covid-19 crises and its impact on learning and academic achievements among medical students of Saudi Arabia. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted among 1021 medical college students of Saudi Arabia by developing a survey questionnaire composed of sociodemographic characteristics of participants, study habits assessment including teacher engagement and student-teacher interactions, assessment of distance teaching approaches such as availability of internet services at home, the usefulness of live sessions or recorded videos, number of hours one can attend the sessions and stay motivated, assessment of academic performance, evaluation of respondents experience and technical infrastructure, psychosocial assessment of respondents, and their coping with COVID-19 crises. Results: Among 1021 students, 503 (49%) were males and 518 (51%) females. 64% agree that distance teaching tools used by the teachers were easy to understand and use, and 55% responded that they are very much satisfied with E-learning provided by their institute. There was no significant difference observed between students on the usefulness of different approaches in facilitating learning experience except 'Self-study using text and/or video materials provided by the teacher approach' (P=0.043). Conclusion: The findings showed satisfactory results, showing that Saudi Arabia's respective medical universities offered good online support and orientation to overcome COVID 19 crises, and students found distance learning tools easy to use and understand as the support provided by the medical universities staff. Future steps would be taken based on the observed results, and further improvement would be implemented to make the learning process easier for medical students.
ABSTRACT
We aimed this systematic review to analyze and review the currently available published literature related to long COVID, understanding its pattern, and predicting the long-term effects on survivors. We thoroughly searched the databases for relevant articles till May 2021. The research articles that met our inclusion and exclusion criteria were assessed and reviewed by two independent researchers. After preliminary screening of the identified articles through title and abstract, 249 were selected. Consequently, 167 full-text articles were assessed and reviewed based on our inclusion criteria and thus 20 articles were regarded as eligible and analyzed in the present analysis. All the studies included adult population aged between 18 and above 60 years. The median length of hospital stay of the COVID-19 patients during the acute infection phase ranged from 8 days to 17 days. The most common prevalent long-term symptoms in COVID-19 patients included persistent fatigue and dyspnea in almost all of the studies. Other reported common symptoms included: shortness of breath, cough, joint pain, chest pain or tightness, headache, loss of smell/taste, sore throat, diarrhea, loss of memory, depression, anxiety. Associated cardiovascular events included arrhythmias, palpitations and hypotension, increased HR, venous thromboembolic diseases, myocarditis, and acute/decompensated heart failure as well. Among neurological manifestations headache, peripheral neuropathy symptoms, memory issues, concentration, and sleep disorders were most commonly observed with varying frequencies. Mental health issues affecting mental abilities, mood fluctuations namely anxiety and depression, and sleep disorders were commonly seen. Further, diarrhea, vomiting, digestive disorders, and Loss of appetite or weight loss are common gastrointestinal manifestations. Therefore, appropriate clinical evaluation is required in long COVID cases which in turn may help us to identify the risk factors, etiology, and to my help, we treat them early with appropriate management strategies.