EDUCATION AFTER THE PANDEMIC: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IS POSSIBLE WITH EASY AND RESOURCE-FRIENDLY VISUAL MODULES

Aims: The pandemic has increased the importance of remote teaching resources in medical education and highlighted the importance of out-of-class learning in a hybrid setting. Achieving such a model seems to be challenging, especially for institutions with limited experience and resources. This study aims to demonstrate the educational benefit of such hybrid curricula by using simple modules, reproducible in various settings even with limited resources. Methods: All fifth-year medical students at our institution (n=43) were included in this study. Their original random grouping to take internships at different times at our institution was utilized. The first group to undergo their psychiatry internship was registered as a control group (group 1, n=20) and the latter as an intervention group (group 2, n=23). First, an initial need assessment was administered to both groups before their internships to guide the design of the intervention. According to the needs identified, we came up with a plan consisting of clips and simple animations corresponding to three disorders in psychiatry. We integrated this module into the curriculum of the intervention group and checked its efficacy using the pre/post-survey method. We later compared the two groups for knowledge retention, self-evaluated sufficiency, and satisfaction with multiple-choice questions and a late-post survey. Statistical significance with in the intervention group had been determined by dependent samples t-test whereas it was determined by independent samples t-test between the two groups, following normality analysis by the Shapiro-Wilk test. Results: In the initial need assessment, Likert scores (1-5) of both groups showed agreement with low concentration [mean =4.3 ([+ or -]0.85) and 4.1 ([+ or -]0.85)] and stated disagreement about "patient variety," [mean =2.5 ([+ or -]1.28) and 1.8 ([+ or -]0.94)] and "management" [mean =3.0 ([+ or -]1.15) and 2.9 ([+ or -]1.01)]. After the visual display, Likert scores of the intervention group improved significantly in certain items reflecting self-sufficiency, and the post-survey had more correct answers (+21.5%, p=0.017). When the two groups were compared, the intervention group answered more questions correctly (+12.6%, p=0.058). They also stated benefits in memory, exam-preparedness, and sufficiency. Conclusion: Simplistic, affordable, and easily prepared visual supplementation can offer an improvement in quality and increase student satisfaction with onli