Can Doctors Learn When They Have Time?

Residents, or junior doctors, are some of most overworked individuals in healthcare. Imagine juggling patient duties, rotations, and when you have a spare moment there are exams to pay attention to. You need the ability to take online courses when you've got a moment. It's what you would call an 'offline class' - something happening between computers without a set schedule. Learning when you have some time seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, if this is the case, the students are facing a huge challenge. Not only do they have to lug hospital shifts, but also move the classes online has had a great deal of success. But, is the convenience worth itfor these 24/7 hounding individuals? Asynchronous learning tools, like the Resident Study Log, offer residents a way to plug into educational content whenever they've got a spare second. This means you can learn about surgery prep when sitting out on a boring waiting room coffee break, or listen to lectures about diseases when waiting for an elevator in clinic. One of the biggest selling points of online learning is flexibility. You can fit in time for lessons around your work schedule and rotations. That's a perfect recipe for a medical student's life, but we have to make sure it's working for them. What we are missing is to understand how much can be learned outside of the classroom. Problem is, it is easier for some people than others.

There may be a number of ideas moving around to serve the purpose like instant messages and video sharing because people have varying experiences learning online. Should online learning be the primary for healthcare students? Or should it be what is taught in the classroom? Is consistency of information affected by online learning? The answer to these problems might be answered by looking at the results of residents in hospitals. Researchers pulled together information from residents' informal feedback and usage data. This would be a great opportunity to see what the students are really catching up online. While the circumstances are tailored to be as beautiful as possible there are many ways to improve the learning. If the learning is not in high methodology it will be a challenge in the future or student learning outcomes can suffer. Behind all this 'learn when you can' buzz around online learning, the most important part is the effectiveness of the learning. Is the outcome encouraging and worth using? Or is it not as good as promising because some students are not able to achieve the same results? It is important to ensure that the quality of learning stays high.

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