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Background. After COVID-19 emergence, medical education witnessed a shift from face-to-face education to digital education, which inevitably affected medical students. Globally, due to the closure of schools and universities, medical education was shifted to electronic learning (E-learning). This paper aimed to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education and determine medical students' knowledge, attitude, and practices towards E-learning in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.Materials and Methods. An online cross-sectional study was conducted among 500 undergraduate students of seven medical colleges in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, in November 2021, to assess their state during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this affected their education.Results. There were 50.6% of males and 49.4% of females. The mean age was 20.6 ( +/- 1.5 SD) years. Approximately 17% of participants mentioned having financial issues, while 19.2% of students experienced health-related problems. As many as 67% of participants reported that the Internet quality was good or very good, whereas 46.8% of students disagreed that E-learning was a possible substitute for traditional learning. About two-thirds of participants agreed or were neutral that downloadable content was better than live content;however, only 19.2% of students agreed that E-learning could be used in the clinical aspect. A total of 52.2% of participants disagreed that E-testing could replace traditional learning methods. Surprisingly, 86.4% of students stated that they regularly used the Internet in their study.Conclusions. E-learning was the main adjustment made in the educational system, including medical education. The study concluded with insights into how different circumstances could have different conse-quences on the efficacy of medical education. E-learning showed effective results in continuing learning until the educational system switched to a blended system. Training programs for medical education personnel are vital in effective E-learning opportunities.
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Background/Objectives: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging viral respiratory disease that has currently reached apandemic status.This study aimed to assessCOVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices among the Kurdishpopulation in Iraq. Methods: This cross-sectional studywas conducted fromJuly 15 to September 15, 2020 among the Kurdish population in Iraq. A total of 885 subjects were interviewed. All subjects were aged 15-75 years. Knowledgescores, attitudes, and practices of subjects were analyzed according to demographic characteristics. Results:The study subjects were largely male,the average age was31.79 years,and 41.92% subjects were from Erbil province. Approximately 85.31% subjectshad enhancedknowledge regarding disease prevention and control. The lowest subscale scores were related toclinical manifestations of the disease. Knowledge scores were significantly associated with age, place of current residence, and level of education.A large number of participants believed COVID-19 would be controlled and the fight against the pandemic would be won.Subjects' attitudes toward success differedsignificantly by demographic characteristics, except marital status. Approximately 40.03% subjects reported that they had not visited a crowded place, and 60.22% of these subjects wore face masks when leaving home. Conclusions: This study foundgood knowledge, positive attitudes, and proper practices among the general populationregarding the COVID-19 pandemic.However, community-based health campaigns in the regionshould encourage optimistic attitudes and appropriate practicesregarding virus containment and dissemination. Our findings may be used as a baseline for planning health education campaigns in the region.
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Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) causes a severe acute respiratory syndrome and is known as coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was first discovered in December, 2019 in Wuhan, China. The question of whether the COVID-19 patients that recover from the disease acquire immunity or are still susceptible to reinfection remains unanswered. Case Presentation: In this study, we presented the case of a 46-year-old male who recovered from the first round of COVID-19 infec-tion. After symptom resolution, two consecutives negative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests confirmed the negativity of the patient. Seven weeks after the first infection, the patient presented with fever and dry cough, and the infection was confirmed using real-time RT-PCR. The reinfection was associated with more severe symptoms, which required antiviral treatment. Conclusions: Our study indicated the possibility of COVID-19 reinfection. If the occurrence of reinfections is confirmed, it may implicate changes in the vaccine and community-based disease prevention strategies. Further studies are required to confirm the possibility of COVID-19 reinfection.