Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research

Pakistan has not been a major contributor to medical research, mainly because of the lack of learning opportunities to medical students. With the increase in online learning systems during COVID-19, research related skills can be taught to medical students via low-cost peer taught virtual research w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC medical education 2021-11, Vol.21 (1), p.557-557, Article 557
Main Authors: Ukrani, Ronika Devi, Shaikh, Ayesha Niaz, Martins, Russell Seth, Fatima, Syeda Sadia, Naseem, Hamna Amir, Baig, Mishall Ahmed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical competence
Collaboration
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Education, Distance
Education, Medical - methods
Educational innovations
Educational Practices
Educational Quality
Educational Strategies
Evaluation
Humans
Learning
Medical education
Medical research
Medical schools
Medical students
Medicine, Experimental
Mentors
Methods
Online education
Online learning
Pakistan
Pandemics
Peer Group
Peer tutoring
R&D
Research & development
Social networks
Students, Medical
Study and teaching
Teaching Methods
Workshops
Workshops (Educational programs)
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Summary:Pakistan has not been a major contributor to medical research, mainly because of the lack of learning opportunities to medical students. With the increase in online learning systems during COVID-19, research related skills can be taught to medical students via low-cost peer taught virtual research workshops. To assess the effectiveness of a comprehensive low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops amongst medical students in Pakistan. This quasi-experimental study assessed the effectiveness of five virtual research workshops (RWs) in improving core research skills. RWs for medical students from across Pakistan were conducted over Zoom by medical students (peer-teachers) at the Aga Khan University, Pakistan, with minimal associated costs. The content of the workshops included types of research, ethical approval and research protocols, data collection and analysis, manuscript writing, and improving networking skills for research. Improvement was assessed via pre-and post-quizzes for each RW, self-efficacy scores across 16 domains, and feedback forms. Minimum criteria for completion of the RW series was attending at least 4/5 RWs and filling the post-RW series feedback form. A 6-month post-RW series follow-up survey was also emailed to the participants. Four hundred medical students from 36 (/117; 30.8%) different medical colleges in Pakistan were enrolled in the RWs. However, only 307/400 (76.75%) medical students met the minimum requirement for completion of the RW series. 56.4% of the participants belonged to the pre-clinical years while the rest were currently to clinical years. The cohort demonstrated significant improvement in pre-and post-quiz scores for all 5 RWs (p 
ISSN:1472-6920
1472-6920
DOI:10.1186/s12909-021-02996-y