learning medicine in the changing world internet

8/2/2019 Learning Medicine in the Changing World Internet

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Learning / Practising Medicine in the

Changing World

*Dr.T.V.Rao MD

I still remember memories of my teachers in Medical

College in 1960s. They were simple, humble, knowledged and

committed to their profession. There were few books available

to us and otherwise we were unable to afford or own manybooks personally. The available books were reputed and

written by many authors who contributed few chapters who had

a real experience, even same concept continues with many

western publications, and India too catching up. India has

grown far and wide, we have many authors, plenty of guides, all

are edited my one or two authors who have no first-hand

experience on many topics, but just good composers of books.I still remember one who studied surgical methods by Dr Das

still cannot forget what a flaw less book it is, he who

understands little of it can make no basic mistakes. Today we

are not able to grade the books with demands in Medical,

Nursing colleges. Regulatory authorities specifies number of

text book copies to a subject to be available for Inspection, so it

has become a thriving place for every inferior quality of booksentering into every medical establishment and every library.

Many teachers criticise that information available on the WWW-

Internet is not authentic but to find, it is far more superior to

many available books in our libraries. Indian Medical education

definitely growing through many crises because many become

experts and specialists without practising the fundamentals of

Science or Medicine, we are certain to turn out bad Doctors.


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Rapid increase in Medical and Nursing Colleges, lack of

teachers and lacking of interest to teach is creating havoc in the

country. No regulatory body can control these colleges every

day, so the students too left to their own choices of learning,which is certainly dangerous trend to future of Indias health

sector. Many post graduate degrees are awarded without basic

knowledge of a good MBBS student. Many Universities are on

their own regulations awarding Degrees which are of doubtful

use to the Society. People criticize the Internet that is spoiling

the younger generation I wish to ask how many classes a

senior teachers is taking and if it is the state, that students haveno option than accept the path of least resistance i.e. Internet,

and good teachers become indifferent to the system with which

they are living.

Internet is becoming a source of knowledge forlearning and execution of practice, and the Internet is widelyused in medical education. Educational courses for doctors and

medical students are increasingly offered via the Internet.Despite much research, course developers remain unsureabout what (if anything) to offer online and how. Prospectivelearners lack evidence-based guidance on how to choosebetween the options on offer.The great questions remain How can Internet-basedlearning, be effectively implemented? and When shouldInternet-Based learning is used? Internet has proliferated

beyond ones imagination, as the future of Internet-basedmedicine is to tie together many different entities: clinicalservices such as reference laboratories, offices, and hospitals,as well as administrative services such as pharmacies andhealth plans. Unfortunately, it is not easy to implement thisconvergence, as the different health care elements are notalways well organized to begin with. Physicians and studentssimply log in with a modem from wherever they are. They use

their browser to go to a certain Web site that the Institutionprovides. The institution has a firewall can block unwanted


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distracting websites and a certificate server to authenticateprecisely who the user is. In addition, it provides a securelocked session with everything encrypted, which is governed byInstitutional policy.

The use of computers in most spheres of medicinehas rendered the use of Internet for medical teaching andresearch very easy. A survey on Internet use amongst healthcare professionals found that, many of the educated patientsdiscuss the information found on the net with their health careprovider. Several doctors found this to be helpful as it improvedcommunication, with more knowledge, made the patient a

better partner in health care, and saved time in explanations.However, few doctors felt that it was not helpful, as there was arisk of patient self-treatment. As we find in clinical practicewhenever you diagnose a clinical condition many are browsing

through WWW- Internet, on next visit we are in wait for manyquestion from patients which may be unfamiliar to many of us, ifyou are not an Internet Savvy. However we Medical Teachers,Doctors and Medical Consultant cannot escape from Internet,as the information needs of the medical professionals includemedical research, publication of Academic work which can beaided by the use of Internet. Right from the selection of thetopic, to organizing review of literature, designing the research,finding the techniques to the discussion of the findings arefacilitated by the use of Internet. One of the most common usesof computers continues to be in medicine is for communicationby Email and searching for medical information. The other

possibilities include e-Commerce that includes - sale &purchase of drugs, equipment, instruments, etc. The Internetoffers a vehicle of self-promotion or advertisement for doctorsand hospitals, though this may be a controversial ethical issue,which is taking many neo generation rich and ignorant patientsinto their hands. I sincerely feel all of us must adopt manymatters on Medicine and advances in our practice throughcomputers and Internet, as we have few teachers left to

dedicate their time to us. It is certain that we are losing human


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touch in teaching and practice of Medicine. The regulatoryauthorities should permit e-learning to be given priority inMedical, Nursing curriculum.

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learning medicine in the changing world internet

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