Perception towards Online Teaching-learning in Medical Education among Medical Students during COVID-19 Outbreak in Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: The outbreak of coronavirus disease in Nepal led medical colleges to suspend inperson teaching-learning activities and ultimately online platform was introduced to deliver the contents of medical education. The objective of this study was to describe the perception of medical students towards online teaching-learning introduced during the COVID-19 outbreak in Nepal. METHODS: An online survey using a descriptive cross-sectional study design was carried out among 515 undergraduate medical students currently enrolled in medical colleges in Nepal. A semi-structured questionnaire in Google form was utilized to collect data. The link of the Google form was sent to the potential respondents through email and social media. Descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to analyze data in SPSS vs20. Ethical approval was sought from Nepal Health Research Council to conduct this study, and digital informed consent was taken from study respondents. RESULTS: The overall score of perception of online teaching-learning was 17.61±7.19, which indicated many problems in this method of teaching-learning. The mean score of perception of online teaching-learning was found to be different across sex, location of enrolled medical colleges, having a personal electronic device, having an internet connection at residence, having separate room/space for attending online classes, and self-rated computer skills. Moreover, only 28 (5.4%) of respondents had perceived online teaching-learning as a better method of delivering content of medical curricula. CONCLUSIONS: Surveyed medical students in Nepal were found to perceive many problems in online teaching-learning. Moreover, management and faculty members need to take the necessary measures for enhancing the online teaching-learning quality.