Medical education and COVID-19 pandemic: a crisis management model towards an evolutionary pathway

Zahra Karimian, Majid Reza Farrokhi*, Mohsen Moghadami, Nahid Zarifsanaiey, Manoosh Mehrabi, Laleh Khojasteh, Nasim Salehi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has had a profound effect on higher education, especially medical education due to its sensitive nature, dealing with people’s life and wellbeing. This study presented a crisis management model of how to direct medical education during crises. A qualitative design was used via a focus group among 83 medical education administrators at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Four major challenges emerged regarding medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic including “The health and wellbeing of faculty members and students”; “Spatial constraints”; “Time constraints”, and “Access to resources”. A total of 13 strategies were suggested to tackle the challenges, including virtualization, technological support, empowerment, participation, sharing, helping, integration, compression, omission, flexibility and diversity, severance, protection; and monitoring. For a sustainable educational pathway in medical education, personalized approach to education via the incorporation of technology is essential. This provides opportunities to tackle the issues caused by the crisis, by provision of any time and anywhere approach to education via flexible technologies/platforms adjusted based on the audiences. The scope of crisis management expands not only on individual and academic levels but also on social and global relations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3299-3320
Number of pages22
JournalEducation and Information Technologies
Volume27
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2022
Externally publishedYes

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