ABSTRACT
Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in substantial impacts on all aspects of medical education. Modern health systems must prepare for a wide variety of catastrophic scenarios, including emerging infectious disease outbreaks and human and natural disasters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while the use of traditional teaching methods has decreased, the use of online-based teaching methods has increased. COVID-19 itself and the accompanying infection control measures have restricted full-scale practice. Therefore, we developed an adapted hybrid model that retained adequate hands-on practice and educational equality, and we applied it with a group of undergraduate medical students participating in a mandatory disaster education course in a military medical school. Methods The course covered the acquisition of skills used in emergency and trauma scenarios through designated interdisciplinary modules on disaster responses. Several asynchronous and synchronous online webinars were used in this one-credit mandatory disaster and military medicine education course. To allow opportunities for hands-on practice and ensure education equality, the students were divided into 15 groups, with 12 students in each group. The hands-on practice exercises were also recorded and disseminated to the students in the designated area for online learning. Results A total of 164 3rd-year medical students participated in this mandatory disaster and military medicine course during the COVID-19 pandemic. The satisfaction survey response rate was 96.5%. The students were satisfied with the whole curriculum (3.8/5). Most of the free-text comments regarding the course represented a high level of appreciation. The students felt more confident in the knowledge and skills they gained in hands-on exercises than they did in the knowledge and skills they gained in online exercises. The students showed significant improvements in knowledge after the course. Conclusions We demonstrated that this adapted hybrid arrangement provided an enhanced learning experience, but we also found that medical students were more confident in their knowledge and skills when they had real hands-on practice.