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

Abstract Background 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 taugh...

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Autores principales:	Ronika Devi Ukrani, Ayesha Niaz Shaikh, Russell Seth Martins, Syeda Sadia Fatima, Hamna Amir Naseem, Mishall Ahmed Baig
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Medical students Online learning Peer group COVID-19 Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Medicine R
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7f4df0cbbf884a29b316ab6c79ef25e2
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7f4df0cbbf884a29b316ab6c79ef25e22021-11-08T11:17:25ZLow-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research10.1186/s12909-021-02996-y1472-6920https://doaj.org/article/7f4df0cbbf884a29b316ab6c79ef25e22021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02996-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/1472-6920Abstract Background 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. Aim of the Study To assess the effectiveness of a comprehensive low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops amongst medical students in Pakistan. Methods 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. Results 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 < 0.001) with the greatest improvement in Data Collection and Analysis (+ 34.65%), and in self-efficacy scores across all domains (p < 0.001). 166/307 (54.1%) participants responded to the 6 months post-RWs follow-up survey. Compared to pre-RWs, Research involvement increased from 40.4 to 62.8% (p < 0.001) while proportion of participants with peer-reviewed publications increased from 8.4 to 15.8% (p = 0.043). Conclusion Virtual RWs allow for a wide outreach while effectively improving research-related knowledge and skills, with minimal associated costs. In lower-middle-income countries, virtual RWs are a creative and cost-effective use of web-based technologies to facilitate medical students to contribute to the local and global healthcare research community.Ronika Devi UkraniAyesha Niaz ShaikhRussell Seth MartinsSyeda Sadia FatimaHamna Amir NaseemMishall Ahmed BaigBMCarticleMedical studentsOnline learningPeer groupCOVID-19Special aspects of educationLC8-6691MedicineRENBMC Medical Education, Vol 21, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medical students Online learning Peer group COVID-19 Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Medicine R
spellingShingle	Medical students Online learning Peer group COVID-19 Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Medicine R Ronika Devi Ukrani Ayesha Niaz Shaikh Russell Seth Martins Syeda Sadia Fatima Hamna Amir Naseem Mishall Ahmed Baig Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research
description	Abstract Background 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. Aim of the Study To assess the effectiveness of a comprehensive low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops amongst medical students in Pakistan. Methods 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. Results 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 < 0.001) with the greatest improvement in Data Collection and Analysis (+ 34.65%), and in self-efficacy scores across all domains (p < 0.001). 166/307 (54.1%) participants responded to the 6 months post-RWs follow-up survey. Compared to pre-RWs, Research involvement increased from 40.4 to 62.8% (p < 0.001) while proportion of participants with peer-reviewed publications increased from 8.4 to 15.8% (p = 0.043). Conclusion Virtual RWs allow for a wide outreach while effectively improving research-related knowledge and skills, with minimal associated costs. In lower-middle-income countries, virtual RWs are a creative and cost-effective use of web-based technologies to facilitate medical students to contribute to the local and global healthcare research community.
format	article
author	Ronika Devi Ukrani Ayesha Niaz Shaikh Russell Seth Martins Syeda Sadia Fatima Hamna Amir Naseem Mishall Ahmed Baig
author_facet	Ronika Devi Ukrani Ayesha Niaz Shaikh Russell Seth Martins Syeda Sadia Fatima Hamna Amir Naseem Mishall Ahmed Baig
author_sort	Ronika Devi Ukrani
title	Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research
title_short	Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research
title_full	Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research
title_fullStr	Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research
title_full_unstemmed	Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research
title_sort	low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7f4df0cbbf884a29b316ab6c79ef25e2
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Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research

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