COVID-19 and Online Health Professional Education

The current novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has effected a significant change in the way industry based and tertiary health professions education (HPE) can occur. This is the first paper in a series that addresses the risks and opportunities in the current transition to online HPE, and provides practical solutions for educators who are now unable to embrace more traditional face-to-face HPE delivery methods and activities.

This second paper in a series addressing online professional and tertiary health professions education (HPE) during the current COVID-19 crisis proposes strategies to ensure the ongoing effectiveness, efficiency and engagement of lectures that are transitioning from face-to-face to online delivery.

Health professions education in tertiary, industrial and other contexts often entails face-to-face small group learning through tutorials. The current novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has reduced face-to-face contact, and this has challenged how health professionals and clinical students can access training, accreditation and development. This third paper in a series addressing online professional and tertiary health professions education during the current COVID-19 crisis outlines practical approaches to pedagogically rich online tutorials.

The safe and effective application of psychomotor skills in the clinical environment is a central pillar of the health professions. The current global coronavirus pandemic has significantly impacted routine face-to-face skill education for health professionals and clinical students worldwide, a problem familiar to regional, rural and remote health professionals and students. This Commentary considers how the problem of physical distance might be overcome, so that quality skill education might continue.

Distance learning methods have long been an integral part of medical education in rural and remote settings, but the global coronavirus crisis has stimulated a rapid shift in medical education everywhere from predominantly face to face to being delivered online. As thinking and practice in distance learning have developed, the idea of distance learning (in which the central institution delivers teaching and learning resources to remote learners) is changing to distributed learning (where the institution itself distributes its functions to be near those students). This Commentary examines the design and management of distributed learning.