[COVID-19: a chance for digitalization of teaching? : Report of experiences and results of a survey on digitalized teaching in the fields of anesthesiology, intensive care, emergency, pain and palliative medicine at the University of Leipzig].

Abstract

Background: The SARS-CoV‑2 pandemic has been a major challenge for graduate education. Teaching had to be digitalized within a very short time. This also affected the areas of anesthesiology, intensive care, emergency, pain and palliative care at the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Leipzig.

Objective: The aim of this questionnaire-based survey was to find out which courses can be digitalized from the students' point of view and which forms of teaching are associated with obstacles. In addition, we examined which technical infrastructure supports digitalization best.

Material and methods: In the course of digitalization the lecture series in the areas of palliative care and pain medicine had to be revised but also digital alternatives for seminars, simulation courses and bedside teaching had to be created. Video podcasts, digital learning material, educational films and video conferences were used for the digital implementation of the courses. Depending on the course, different digital methods were combined. In addition, a discussion forum for the exchange between faculty and students was established. An online evaluation was then carried out to assess the content.

Results: A total of 82 4th and 5th year medical students took part in the survey. More than 60% of students rated the learning effect of digital courses as "high" or "very high". Video podcasts of the lectures (45.1%) and digital bedside teaching (34.1%) were rated as the most effective ways of imparting knowledge. In particular, 92.7% of the surveyed students believed that the lectures could be replaced digitally on a permanent basis. For bedside teaching (3.7%) and emergency simulation course (1.2%) this is far less the case. In the majority of cases (56.1%), students needed 30-90 min daily for the preparation and post-processing of the contents. Just under 90% gave the digital courses offered by the hospital an overall grade of 1 or 2 (on a scale from 1 = best to 6 = worst).

Conclusion: The SARS-CoV‑2 pandemic posed major challenges for graduate teaching. At the same time, however, it also helped to overcome often long-standing hurdles to the digitalization of teaching. In the course of the digital semester, different teaching formats could be digitalized to varying degrees: Lectures can be digitally reproduced particularly well from the students' perspective, whereas the digitalization of bedside teaching has not been possible in most cases.