Medical education during the coronavirus disease pandemic and students' mental health: A one-year follow-up

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected medical education and psychosomatic health of medical students. In this follow-up study, conducted 1 year after the transition to online learning (OL), we aimed to investigate changes in student mental health and identify factors associated with academic burnout and changes in medical education caused by the pandemic. Materials and methodsThis study compares the burnout rate and psychosomatic status (depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms) of medical students at Astana Medical University using an online questionnaire-based repeated cross-section design of the pre-pandemic period (September-November 2019), the initial period of the pandemic (April 2020), and the current study (March 9-30, 2021). In the pre-pandemic period, students studied only in a face-to-face format. Moreover, the current study (March, 2021) analyzed factors associated with academic burnout and changes in medical education caused by the pandemic. Statistical methods included mean comparison, frequency, and regression analysis. ResultsData from a representative sample of undergraduate students were analyzed (n = 975, 58% of them participated in the previous study). The burnout rate was found to be lower compared with the period of traditional education (pre-COVID-19) and did not significantly differ from the initial period of the introduction of online learning (the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic). The levels and prevalence of depression and anxiety also showed similar patterns. The prevalence of somatic symptoms has increased compared to the initial period of the pandemic, although it has not reached the level obtained in the pre-COVID-19 period. The negative changes caused by OL in medical education and learning effectiveness have been associated with burnout. Factors associated with burnout, learning effectiveness, dissatisfaction with the quality of OL organization, and deterioration of medical education have been identified. ConclusionThe medical education and mental health of medical students has undoubtedly undergone changes in the transition to OL due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors such as changing the content of education, the organization of the educational process and support from the school, the nature of student-teacher, student-school and student-student relationships, the possibility of mastering various skills and financial problems caused by the pandemic, played a significant role in the academic life of students. The results obtained have potential applications in organizing and improving the quality of continuing medical education in an era of global healthcare crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

COMPLEX ASSESSMENT OF COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY OF THE LUNGS AND CLINICAL DATA IN COVID-19 PATIENTS, HOSPITALIZED IN THE CLINIC IN NUR-SULTAN

The ambiguity of the X-ray picture and clinic in patients with coronavirus infection (CVI) was the reason for this analysis in order to avoid diagnostic errors and to achieve the effect of the treatment. Conducted a comparative description of three clinical cases of patients with coronavirus infection COVID-19. All three patients differed in different parameters of SARS Co-2 PCR. In the first two patients who underwent CT on the 7th and 10th days from the onset of the disease on control CT after treatment, a regressive positive dynamics was observed;in the third patient, after an early CT scan on the second day of illness and on the next CT scan performed on the 10th day after the appearance of the clinic and a positive PCR test, progression of signs of viral pneumonia was observed with an increase in the affected area. Thus, the earlier CT was performed, the less pronounced the changes in the CT picture (the lesion volume is up to 5% or no changes are detected). When performing CT scan, patients with a long-term clinic (7-10 days from the onset of the disease) showed a characteristic picture of lung damage - up to 25-30%. The analysis of CT scans performed in the described clinical cases at different times from the onset of the disease, regardless of the results of PCR, confirms the need for CT scans 5-7 days after the first clinical signs appear. Also, as a result of our work, we once again received confirmation from numerous studies conducted in the world on the absence of a correlation between SARS Co-2 PCR and CT data.