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Virtual Microscopy as a Learning Tool in Brazilian Medical Education |
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| Authors: | Fernanda Somera dos Santos Mariana Kiomy Osako Gleici da Silva Castro Perdoná Márcia Gaião Alves Katiuchia Uzzun Sales |
| Institution: | 1. Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil
Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), Funding acquisition (equal), ?Investigation (lead), Methodology (lead), Project administration (lead), Resources (equal), Software (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (equal);2. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and Pathogenic Bioagents, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Funding acquisition (supporting), ?Investigation (supporting), Methodology (supporting), Resources (supporting), Software (supporting), Supervision (supporting), Validation (supporting), Visualization (supporting), Writing - original draft (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting);3. Department of Social Medicine, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Data curation (supporting), Formal analysis (lead), Funding acquisition (supporting), ?Investigation (supporting), Methodology (lead), Resources (supporting), Software (lead), Supervision (equal), Validation (lead), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal);4. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and Pathogenic Bioagents, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil Contribution: Data curation (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal);5. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and Pathogenic Bioagents, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil |
| Abstract: | Virtual microscopy (VM) is a widely used teaching method in Medical Education in many developed countries. In Brazil, however, this is not the case for most medical schools, considering Brazilian social inequality and uneven access to technology. Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has also challenged Universities to seek and make a transition toward more effective methods of full-time online education. Thus, the main goal of this work was to verify student's perception and academic performance, assessed upon VM implementation in a Brazilian Medical School. Ribeirao Preto Medical School students answered a 26-question survey with regards to optical microscopy (OM) and VM. Academic performance was compared between participants that were (year of 2019) or were not (year of 2015) exposed to VM. Taken the results together, subjective impressions such as handling, suitability, learning effectiveness, and pleasure using the tools, have shown a higher score for virtual microscopy (median = 29), when compared to optical microscopy (median = 24) with a P-value < 0.001 by Wilcoxon rank test, upon measurement using an ordinal scale. Regarding academic performance, no statistically significant differences were found between groups (P-value = 0.38, Cohen's d = 0.19). Therefore, VM proved to be adequate to the Brazilian medical education in light of Brazilian social contexts and Covid-19 pandemic. |
| Keywords: | histology education undergraduate education medical education virtual microscopy light microscopy Brazilian medical education Covid-19 |