Repercussions of The COVID-19 Pandemic On Moroccan Medical Students Education

Volume 7, Issue 10, October – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Repercussions of the COVID-19 Pandemic on

Moroccan Medical Students Education
Narjiss Aji
Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat,
Mohammed V University, Rabat 10100, Morocco
Khalil. Aboulalaa, Achraf Jeddab, Ilyass Massad, Aziz Benakroud, Kamal Mokhtari
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care,
Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat, Military Hospital Mohammed V, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Abstract:- The covid 19 pandemic had a major impact II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
on medical students education .To evaluate this impact,
we conducted a survey among medical students in five An online survey of medical students was conducted in
morrocan medical universities . 462 students the spring of 2022. Students were asked about their overall
participated in this survey, and the different aspects of perceived impact of Covid-19 on their education and several
training and teaching opted were discussed. We exposure variables. Univariate analyzes and adjusted
concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative multivariate analyzes were performed to determine the
impact in all aspects on the formation of medical strengths of associations Informed consent was obtained
students in morocco. from all participants and recorded electronically at the start
of the survey and the survey data was treated confidentially
Keywords:- Pandemic, COVID 19, Training, Online and anonymously. 2022 and April 28, 2022. The survey was
teaching, medical students. conducted in French and lasted approximately 10 minutes.
I. INTRODUCTION III. RESULTS
In March 2020, the World Health Organization has 462 undergraduate and graduate medical students
declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a responded to this questionnaire. 87% of these students are
pandemic. COVID-19 was first detected in Morocco in among those whose internships were either cancelled,
March 2020; In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in suspended or postponed for more or less than three months,
Morocco, the government has imposed a national curfew in which solicited different reactions from the students.
March 2020, followed by a declaration of a state of health
emergency. Most universities have opted for distance education
and the most used platform is Zoom followed by the Teams
Following this announcement all educational platform. Only 9.6% of students reported attending all
institutions, including medical faculties in Morocco have virtual classes and the top three reasons given by them are:
been closed and all forms of face-to-face education and  Technical problems
training have been suspended and converted to online  Problem of schedules
distance education.  The online course is not important.
Medical students have been more affected by the When comparing online and face-to-face learning,
impact of the pandemic, although every student has a most students rated face-to-face learning much better than
personal story of how COVID-19 has impacted their distance learning in terms of improving theoretical and
training, there is no doubt that the impacts of COVID- 19 practical clinical knowledge, although their performance in
will be felt at all levels, both psychological and educational, final exams remained almost the same.
this is due to the more or less long periods of interruption in
their training due to the long national confinements and The main advantage of distance education according to
strict measures. 37.6% of students is the possibility of recording a course, on
the other hand the major disadvantage according to 33.3%
With the aim of determining the impact of the Covid- of students is the lack of interaction with patients.
19 pandemic on the training of medical students in
Morocco; we surveyed undergraduate medical students Regarding the return to the face-to-face at the
around the world on the overall perceived impact of. internship sites, it was deemed safe thanks to the
different FMP Rabat Casa FES Marrakech Oujda development of the vaccine against covid 19 by 53.2% of
the students, on the other hand 69.4% of the students judged
We assessed medical students' perceived opinions of that they could not benefit from their internship given the
training, their experiences, and changes in teaching methods reduced duration, regarding the psychological aspect, most
during the pandemic. students reported having an anxiety level before the
pandemic of 1 and 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, however since the
pandemic, the level of anxiety in the majority of students
IJISRT22OCT631 www.ijisrt.com 641

ISSN No:-2456-2165
reached a level 5 and 6.
Fig. 1: Percentage of Students attending Online Courses
IV. DISCUSSION We report other studies that have been conducted in

low- and middle-income countries confirming the different
A previous international survey was conducted in obstacles encountered to implement virtual medical
autumn of 2020 and reported that the Covid-19 pandemic teaching. In Libya, 2/3 (64,7%) of students, found that e-
had a negative impact on medical students, especially on learning could not be easily opted in their country.(2)In Iran,
those who were female and were in their preclinical years or research has showed that lack of computer skills, anxiety
in their first clinical trainings and did not have the towards using computer and personal discipline are critical
opportunity to attend lectures in person and to benefit from to the success of e learning. (3) In Algeria , Dr Nadia
ward-based teaching. This impact might be explained by the gouane reported that major obstacles to virtual teaching in
fact that young medical students rely on pedagogy in the her country during the pandemic was related to teacher non
opposite to their older whom education is directed by and readiness and lack of experiences in E learning as the
ragogy. surprisingly, the increase in clinical responsibilities outbreak of covid 19 gave no time for universities to prepare
assumed by medical students was not linked to a negative for changes. The other limitations were linked to lack of
impact on their training during the pandemic. tech materials and social status of students.(4)
While novel virtual teaching methods have been opted At the level medical education in different universities
worldwide, this study has reported that its efficacy cannot be in Morocco, Preventive measures aiming to limit this impact
determined yet and more researches need to be conducted to were taken early on such as recommending students to
assess these teaching methods. return to their clinical training as soon as the covid 19 curve
has started to flatten while respecting all barrier measures
Furthermore, this study has highlighted the fact that related to covid19. Hybrid methods of teaching were also
many medical student’s experience during the pandemic can early opted and virtual courses that were not assimilated by
be related with being a resident of a low- or middle-income students were repeated in person like simulated courses of
country when adopting a virtual teaching due to limited semiology that are generally taught next to the patient.
resources, tools and supports being available (1)

ISSN No:-2456-2165
V. CONCLUSION
Covid 19 is responsible for negative impact with

different degrees on the training and education of medical
students in Morocco , Moreover , our survey found that
online learning was perceived as inferior to in person
traching by students. Thus more research in needed to
explore medical teaching tools to ensure a productive
teaching and training in case of an other wave or an other
pandemic.
REFERENCES
[1.] TMS Collaborative. The perceived impact of the

Covid-19 pandemic on medical student education and
training – an international survey. BMC Med Educ 21,
566 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-
02983-3
[2.] Alsoufi A, Alsuyihili A, Msherghi A, Elhadi A, Atiyah
H, Ashini A, et al. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
on medical education: medical students’ knowledge,
attitudes, and practices regarding electronic learning.
PLoS One. 2020;15(11):e0242905.
[3.] Barriers in Implementing E-Learning in Hormozgan
University of Medical Sciences Parvin Lakbala1,2 1
Health Information Management Research Center,
Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar
Abbas, Iran 2 Department of Health Information
Technology, Faculty of Para-Medicine, Hormozgan
University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran
Correspondence: Parvin Lakbala, Health Information
Management Research Center, Hormozgan University
of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran. Tel: 98-763-
366-6365. E-mail: Parvin_lakbala@yahoo.com
Received: September 29, 2015 Accepted: October 26,
2015 Online Published: November 3, 2015
doi:10.5539/gjhs.v8n7p83
[4.] Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) 2nd Special
Issue on Covid 19 Challenges January 2022 Pp.492-
503 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/covid2.33
Learning in the Algerian Context during the Pandemic:
Is it online or offline? Received: 12/25/2021 Abstract
Nadia Ghounane Department of English Language and
Literature Saida University, Algeria.

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Volume 7, Issue 10, October – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

Repercussions of the COVID-19 Pandemic on

I. INTRODUCTION III. RESULTS

IJISRT22OCT631 www.ijisrt.com 641

Fig. 1: Percentage of Students attending Online Courses

IV. DISCUSSION We report other studies that have been conducted in

IJISRT22OCT631 www.ijisrt.com 642

Covid 19 is responsible for negative impact with

[1.] TMS Collaborative. The perceived impact of the

IJISRT22OCT631 www.ijisrt.com 643

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