The epidemiological situation resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused the Polish universities to fully switch to distance education in March 2020. Medical e-learning has not yet been broadly implemented into the education process. Therefore, examples of successful e-learning implementations or the organization of the process of medical e-learning offer a valuable source of knowledge today, which is needed immediately. The article presents e-learning practices at the Polish medical universities during the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic during the period from March to September 2020, (...) covering seven universities in Poland that offer medical and health studies. The organization and implementation of e-learning classes is presented, including knowledge evaluation practices, providing example decisions issued by university rectors, on which the teaching process was based. A detailed presentation of the schools’ organizational units or workgroups that played an important role in the process of coordination of measures supporting e-education is also included. The article also presents a description of the software applications, utilities, and services used at the schools in the course of the process of online education. Below are some examples of specific such implementations in selected university courses. (shrink)

As a result of the epidemiological situation in Poland that occurred as a consequence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, all classroom study was suspended in March 2020 and schools were required to deliver online education. There number of teachers who create educational resources for medical e-education, also those including interactive elements, is still insufficient. Teachers’ IT skills must be continuously improved and they have to take part in e-learning course design training programmes, taking into account the characteristics of the teaching process (...) in medical sciences and health studies. The existing examples of effective e-classes, particularly for medical training, are important sources of knowledge on how to build e-learning courses for beginners and an inspiration for others in subsequent implementations. This knowledge is needed immediately, and the time available for acquiring it is shorter than previously, as the epidemic does not allow for full-range training schemes. This paper presents such results, collected from the period from March to June 2020 at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences by teachers who had started working on e-learning resources in 2019 and are successfully implementing these in the educational offer made available to their students as part of various curricula. (shrink)

This article presents an overview of generally available applications for creating multimedia and interactive educational materials, such as presentations, instructional videos, self-tests and interactive repetitions. With the use of the presented tools, pilot materials were developed to support the teaching of biostatistics at a medical university. The authors conducted surveys among students of faculties of medicine in order to evaluate the materials used in terms of quality and usefulness. The article presents the analysis of the results obtained.

The process of continuing education of paramedics is based on gaining educational credits during five-year educational periods. One of the forms of self-improvement are Internet-based educational programs. The lack of regulations concerning the organizational and technical aspects of e-learning made the authors attempt to analyze the phenomenon. The aim of the article is to present an initial analysis of the role of online educational programs in comparison with other forms of professional training of paramedics. One in three respondents has recently (...) used one of the methods of distance learning. Despite the low awareness of the effectiveness of e-learning, almost 70% of the interviewees expressed a positive opinion about it and over 50% were willing to use such forms in the future. The respondents preferred online trainings in the asynchronous version, containing audio-visual materials and providing the possibility to obtain a certificate issued to the participant after completing the course. The demand for topics in the area of professional training included mainly the fields of Drug Therapy, electrotherapy, electrocardiogram evaluation, medical segregation, and help in delivery in pre-hospital conditions. Modern forms of distance learning do not make it possible to acquire practical skills, yet their role in professional training of paramedics is still significant. According to the authors, online educational programs constitute an effective complement to traditional training through the performance of tasks in a mixed form, known as blended-learning. (shrink)

The development of medicine is based on reliable medical research. This is a process that must be planned in detail and performed in accordance with the accepted study protocol, as any negligence – even a small one – or deviation from the protocol may result in distorted research results and – in consequence – to false conclusions. One of the key stages of research is the selection of the appropriate methodology, particularly in terms of tests that verify the posed hypotheses. (...) Each statistical method has a set of assumptions that have to be met in order for the method to be used. This paper explains why the appropriate selection of methods, verification of the required assumptions, and correct graphical representation of the obtained results are so important from the practical perspective. (shrink)

This article shows the organization of distance learning, particularly the idea of b-learning, combining the accomplishment of classes carried on in the traditional way and via computers. The authors present learning activities related to complementary education herein. Some of these course types may be successfully adapted to an e-learning background. The models and structure of the university virtual environment for distance learning are described. These illustrate a new approach to creating a virtual space for medical and technical studies where e-learning (...) courses are created to be used for distance education, which allows students to be taught more effectively. The projected virtual courses for different groups of students ensure individualization of students’ work, which could be a relevant element for creating the shortest path of development of professional competencies. This paper further includes a brief overview of technologies used to build interactive elements into learning mate- rials. The authors present the use of interactive elements in medical education based on examples of certain selected games and animations. (shrink)

This paper presents several applications of the dimensional analysis method to problems investigated in medical sciences. The method is used to analyze various complex processes without using formal laws governing the same. It is particularly suitable for a general analysis of fluid transfer in the human body. This paper mainly serves as an overview of selected applications, mostly those emerging in the recent years, and includes a discussion of the mathematical fundamentals of dimensional analysis together followed by its critical analysis. (...) Containing detailed calculations of two examples, the paper also serves as training material in the area of the computational method of the dimensional analysis algorithm. (shrink)

Public universities in Poland receive fairly limited financial support for creating e-textbooks (interactive online textbooks) and lack the appropriate ICT competences among teaching staff, especially in the case of non-technical universities. The authors propose a pedagogical and technological paradigm for e-textbooks in medical education using open source software with minimal IT skills required. Technologies used to develop e-textbooks are connected with: publication and distribution of e-textbooks, e-book readers, and editing tools. The paper also discusses a survey that targeted students of (...) medical sciences, which focused on their understanding of their educational needs that can be met through new online resources as well as their expectations of how such e-textbooks should be like. (shrink)

The national curricula of the EU member states are structured around learning outcomes, selected according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. The authors of this paper claim that using Bloom’s Taxonomy to phrase learning outcomes in medical education in terms of students’ achievements is difficult and unclear. This paper presents an efficient method of assessing course learning outcomes using Fuzzy Logic.

This paper presents the place of e-learning methods in the teaching of Advanced Life Support to second year medical students. The described course lasts 30 hours and consists of lectures, seminars, and classes. Numerous modifications of the course were introduced in the past and at the moment electronic learning methods are being improved with new ones being added as well. The following have been implemented: 1. e-learning presentations instead of lectures; 2. recording own instructional movie demonstrating advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation; 3. (...) a change in the method of conducting practical classes consisting in recording the medical procedures performed by students with a camera. Although e-learning plays an important role in ALS teaching, it cannot completely replace on-site classes. Thus, ALS without any practice to acquire resuscitation skills is impossible. (shrink)