THE EXPERIENCE OF A NEWLY IMPLEMENTED ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORM FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS

INTRODUCTION: In the context of the current public health emergency, an adequate adjustment imposed a transition from a conservative approach to medical education to online teaching and interaction. E-learning also brought advantages to the students, which were assessed in this survey in order to learn how to keep and benefit from them in the future. METHODS: the data was collected through a questionnaire which included general data (gender, year of study) and the self-perceived progress. Specific questions addressed the quality of the teacher-student communication, or the advantages e-learning offered, while the platform's functionalities were analyzed through a five-point scale. RESULTS: Among the 536 respondents, 99.81% mentioned at least one feature used specifically in the online training that would be valuable to retain in the future. Students perceiving progress better than expected had a higher appreciation of the e-learning tools. Gender differences in opinion were only correlated with the standardization of the studying process. While time management was accepted as a main advantage, 25% of the participants considered the overall communication better than before. A major disapproval regarding online communication was encountered in years 3, 4, and 5, while the desire to continue the communication through the existing platform was the highest in the first and last year of study. CONCLUSION: Even in a blended learning process, the digital delivery of medical training needs further improvement and adaptation in order to align with the fast-developing society and its expectations.