Abstract

Introduction. Medical education should review online teaching methods so that doctors can use digital information effectively. Virtual education was well received during the pandemic, and teachers and students expressed satisfaction. However, male teachers and students adapted better than female teachers and students. Although online education has advantages, traditional offline education should only be replaced partially. Universities should focus on the development of virtual education and teacher training. Methods. We thoroughly analysed research works published on Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus from the creation of these databases until May 2023. Our search terms included "Distance learning", "Online education", "Medical education", and "Central Asia", and we limited our search to English language articles. We also reviewed the literature lists of all the studies we found to identify potentially relevant articles. We carefully read all the studies and articles we identified, paying attention to the authors' names and publication dates to avoid data duplication. Inclusion and exclusion criteria. To conduct a thorough search, we searched for research articles published in journals that undergo peer review and are written in English. We only included studies that involved medical students and excluded articles that did not relate to distance learning, were published in non-peer-reviewed journals, or needed to be written in English. Conclusion. Higher education faces similar challenges and opportunities in the post-pandemic era, despite variations in cultural backgrounds and educational systems across countries. Improvements are also needed in online medical education, which can be achieved through the development of online training courses, individual tracking, technical control, professional support, and specialised evaluation. Such improvements will make medical training more accessible and sustainable for doctors in all areas. Innovative technologies will be necessary to ensure high-quality medical education in the future.