‘Testing clinical skills of medical students a challenge’

Medical colleges seek effective means of online examinations

KARACHI: With educational institutes closed amid coronavirus, the training and testing of budding doctors' clinical skills has become a major challenge for medical universities.

The vice-chancellors (VCs) of Dow University of Health and Sciences (DUHS), Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) and Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) discussed these and other issues in a webinar, titled 'Public Universities' Response to the Pandemic,' arranged by JSMU on Wednesday.

JSMU VC Dr SM Tariq Rafi stated that things were changing drastically in these unprecedented times and there had been a paradigm shift in teaching and training as well. He mentioned that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has developed a protocol for general universities, but medical universities were different.

He pointed out that teachers had been trained to conduct online lectures following the HEC guidelines, by holding lectures at the pharmacy and public health institutes, but teaching the students clinical skills online was difficult.

"Our foremost challenge so far has been conducting examinations," he said, adding that there were two possible models, the first being setting supplementary examinations online with a viva and the second being to gather 30 to 40 students on campus and arrange examinations while maintaining distance. The latter, he said, was risky.

Dr Rafi stated that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council was still debating the modalities of medical and dental admissions for the next year, adding that the current benchmarks for merit were Grade 11 exams and O Levels. "How will we be able to judge a students' calibre for entry into a medical college without an entry test?"

Meanwhile, DUHS VC Prof Saeed Quraishy said that completing courses in these circumstances was also a challenge. He disclosed that DUHS had conducted supplementary examinations online using objective questions combined with an old-fashioned viva, helping to cross-check any unfair means employed in the written exam.

"Clinical modules are also being developed for online teaching," he added. "However, a major hurdle is that many students in nursing and allied health sciences may not have access to or may not be as proficient in using computers."

Moreover, LUMHS VC Prof Bhika Ram Devrajani shed light on the pandemic situation in Hyderabad, claiming matters were better there and calling for inquiry into virus variations. "Most of the patients were asymptomatic and only 2 to 3 per cent were critical. Only 25 deaths have been recorded so far [in Hyderabad]."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2020.