ABSTRACT
Background: Following the outbreak of coronavirus and its impact on the educational process of medical students, attention was paid to e-learning due to the importance of education and research. The aim of the present study is an evaluation of virtual and actual education models on the learning of internal interns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The present study is a trial that was performed on 112 internal interns of hospitals from January to December 2020. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of the actual or virtual educational model groups with personal consent. Educational method was case-based discussion in both groups. The learning outcomes of the interns of these two groups were compared in 9 areas with 95% confidence level and 5% random error. Data about age, sex, type of residence (home or dormitory), pre-internship score (≤150 or >150) and entrance exam rank (≤300 or >300) were collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 20. Results: The mean ±SD age of the participants was 24.9±2.3 years, 46% of participants were men and 54% of them lived in dormitories. The results of the study show that the difference in pre-test and post-test scores with actual and virtual education models in the male and female is significantly different (p-value=0.020). Virtual education for men and actual education for women have resulted in higher difference scores in pre-test and post-test. Actual and virtual education models were not different in academic achievements of the participants. Thus, the scores obtained in 9 areas did not make a significant difference between the two types of educational models. Conclusion:The comparison of virtual and actual education demonstrated that there is no significant difference between these two methods in student output. Given the conditions that have been created by COVID-19 in the world, it seems that the use of virtual education can be a good alternative to educating medical students so that education does not stop. Copyright © 2023, Journal of Iranian Medical Council. All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
ABSTRACT
Background: The purpose of the current study was to investigate Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) in patients infected by SARS-CoV-2. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 203 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 based on the positive results of Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests of oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs were enrolled. None of the patients were on diuretic drugs, anticholinergic agents, and alpha blockers. Patients with a history of LUTS, urethral stenosis, neurogenic bladder, urinary tract infection, and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) were excluded from the study. Questions about basic characteristics and de novo LUTS were asked from each patient and the answers were recorded. Results: De novo lower urinary tract symptoms were identified in 30 (14.7%) patients, 23 males and 7 females indicating a significant difference in terms of sex (p=0.005). The most frequent urinary tract symptom was frequency which was reported in 21 patients. Conclusion: There is no clear explanation on the relationship between LUTS and SARS-CoV-2. However, the potential ability of the virus for causing viral cystitis may be a reasonable hypothesis. Therefore, still further studies are required to determine the role of COVID-19 virus in urinary tract symptoms. Copyright 2021, Journal of Iranian Medical Council. All rights reserved.