Education in the 21st century

Education in the 21st century has been shifting in line with technological advancements—be it through the implementation of virtual reality for medical students or through the use of interactive whiteboards for classrooms .

Many schools also take advantage of elearning to keep up with the expectations of today’s predominantly digital native student population and the requirements of the increasingly tech-forward industry.

This article aims to discuss the different elearning statistics that are affecting the education sector and how important is the continuing medical education for the healthcare providers.

Online courses continue to grow, especially in colleges and universities. According to the latest reports of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the number of enrollees in distance education courses rose even though the overall rate of college enrollment dropped.

As you’ll see in the compiled statistics below, there are a lot of driving forces in the continuous growth of the elearning industries. These include the abundance of elearning technologies, centralized content, flexibility, convenience, and more.

And now that the world is in a state of global lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for elearning platforms is expected to gain even more traction. 

For those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.

Here is some benefits of eLearning:

1.   Studies suggest that elearning can lessen energy consumption by about 90%.

2.  Seven in 10 teachers agree that elearning tools are helpful to students when studying things on their own.

3.  Students are mostly satisfied with their online learning courses as 95% are willing to recommend online education to other people.

4.  77% of students who enroll in online programs claim that it will help them reach their employment and career goals.

5.  71% of principals say that digital learning tools facilitate their students’ real-world problem-solving skills.

And in the field of medical education .. It is important for every healthcare provider to benefit from the e-learning education and courses available via the Internet .. which in turn may have a role in reducing medical errors.

The American Association of Continuing Medical Education believes that Continuing Medical Education is crucial to the prosperity of health care providers—it allows a practitioner to learn and discover viable ways to improve on the patient care they deliver and effectively manage a career in the ever-changing landscape of the medical industry. 

The values of continuing medical education to health care providers are:

1. Refine skills to improve overall patient care

2. Stay current with the latest developments within their specialty

3. Address real-world challenges that health care professionals face day to day

4. Gain professional growth and a means to advance career status

Therefore, Continuing medical education is an important factor in the career development of healthcare providers to maintain the competence necessary to practice the profession and continuing to develop scientific and practical knowledge, which enhances their capabilities, meets the needs of patients and responds to health priorities in the country.

Also, relying on self-reading is no longer sufficient without the presence of active educational programs that maintain the scientific and practical competence of the healthcare providers in order to improve outcomes and keep pace with the rapid and continuous development in the health field. 

Regular attendance at conferences and training programs in different forms provided by many direct and indirect virtual programs or agencies around the world, including the Virtual Medical Academy because that would contribute to improving the lives of all people. And developing the knowledge, skills and behavior change of primary health care physicians and enabling them to provide health services of high quality. This will contribute to reducing medical errors that may occur in hospitals. 

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430763/

https://www.moh.gov.bh/Services/ContinuingMedicalEducation

Hofer TP, Kerr EA, Hayward RA. What is an error? Eff Clin Pract. 2000 Nov-Dec;3(6):261-9. [PubMed] [Reference list]

https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Health-systems/patient-safety/data-and-statistics

https://www.guide2research.com/research/elearning-statistics

https://aacmet.org/cme/importance-of-cme/