Virtual class room as a learning format in a family medicine residency program: Lessons learned in Palestine

Abstract

Purpose: Due to geopolitical and socioeconomic challenges, the Family Medicine (FM) speciality in Palestine is in early stages of development. Volunteer British General Practitioner (BGP) trainers worked with FM faculty to develop an online tutorial program (OTP) and a novel evaluation framework E-QUaL (Evaluation-Quality, Utilization and Learning) to enhance residents' patient-centered communication and clinical skills.

Materials and methods: Three OTP cycles were facilitated and evaluated at An Najah National University (ANNU) in Palestine between 2017-2020. Qualitative data were collected during focus groups and online chats and analysed.

Results and conclusions: The development and joint facilitation of the OTP developed faculty skills and enhanced clinically oriented education. The collaborative (BGPs and ANNU faculty) approach and the use of the EQUaL framework helped to identify and address strengths and opportunities as well as the challenges and threats of the educational content and the virtual learning format with each iteration. The COVID pandemic provided a new and inexpensive platform which improved training quality. Issues such as the volunteer nature of BGPs, internet instability, and differing cultural approaches and expectations between physicians and patients were addressed in a continuous quality improvement approach and continues today. This may be a useful model in other low resourced settings.

Keywords: Postgraduate medical education; family medicine; low resource settings; online tutorials; patient-centered communication.