E LEARNING IN HEALTH EDUCATI

FEASIBILITY, PROS AND CONS

S.HEMALATHA
1St MBA-Hospital Administration,
KMCH Institute of Health and Hospital administration,
Avinashi road,
Coimbatore-641014

INTRODUCTION

In today's scenario, the world of medicine is changing rapidly.

Not every one of 398 medical colleges in India has access to all
these updates and resources. To bridge this gap there came a
scientific revolution to rescue
In October 1999, during a CBT seminar in Los Angeles, Elearning was coined for the first time.

The Definition
The use of computing and internet in the education is
known as Electronic learning, more typically E Learning

VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

A VLE is a computer based software system
designed to support teaching and learning in an
educational setting, i.e. school or a university.
The components of VLE are

Interactive learning
Assessment, communication, uploading of content,
return of students work
Collecting and organizing student grades
Questionnaires and tracking tools

SIMULATION

SIMULATION

Companies working on medical simulation

Second life (Linden Lab)

ProtoSphere (ProtonMedia)
Olive (Forterra system)
Croquet Consortium
Open Wonderland (Open Wonderland Foundation)

These on-line worlds, users choose an avatar (or

virtual character) and interact in a three
Dimension (3D) environment with other on-line
users controlling the characters movements,
actions and voice

SIMULATION (IN HEALTHCARE)

Artificial patients or animal models (computer simulations designed to

teach biochemical or physiological principles on simulated models)
Human patient simulators (mannequins or interactive
models reflecting human appearance, pathology and
physiology)
Simulated patients (patient information simulated and
stored in a database for student use)
E-patients (use of real patient cases with different names to maintain
anonymity, e.g. electronic health record information)
Virtual world patients (patient is a virtually generated
character an avatar living in a virtual world

PRESENT SCENARIO

First

EDUSAT

Indian satellite
built exclusively for
educational sector

Online

Open Access
Bibliography
NIC

and ICMR jointly

established MEDLARS -an
online medical literature
database

PRESENT SCENARIO

In

Apollo Telemedicine Network

collaboration with
Anna University
established the first
telemedicine course for
health professionals

SGPGIMS
In

collaboration with Uttar

Pradesh government
established a school of
telemedicine and
bioinformatics

PRESENT SCENARIO

National Board of Examination

Made

E-learning for
every medical
institution ,
compulsory

C-DAC

MOHALI
In Punjab- provides
training for healthcare
professionals regarding
telemedicine.

PRESENT SCENARIO

with

CMC, Vellore

the help of Tufts

university, USA Have
established a
telemedicine portal
called TUSK

RAD GURUKAL

It is the Tele-Radiololgy training centre in Bangalore

providing radiology training and solutions for healthcare
people online

HURDLES TO E-LEARNING

Regulatory framework in India

Notification

sector

no 44 recognition issues in private

Resource limitation
Poor

connectivity of internet coverage in Indian

villages
Digital divide.

Other barriers
Lack

of infrastructure
Poor compliance from senior health professionals
Computer illiteracy

ADVANTAGES OF E-LEARNING

CME credits for doctors

CME.web.com
GE

healthcare

Schedule flexibility
Ease of access
Cost effectiveness

EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS
Lockyer (2007) study
Hugenholz (2008) study
Duffy (2002)

DISADVANTAGES OF E-LEARNING
Poor recognition in job market
Less human interaction
No hands on practice
Technical mishaps
Working alone

FUTURE OF E-LEARNING IN
HEALTHCARE

FICCI 2010 report "Healthcare has emerged as one of the most

progressive and largest service sectors in India with an
expected GDP spend of 8 per cent by 2012 from 5.5 per cent in
2009. It is believed to be the next big thing after IT and
predicted to become a USD 280 billion industry by 2020,"
"India E-Learning Market Outlook to FY'2018 Increasing
Technology Adoption to Drive Future Growth, the market is
estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17.4% over the period
FY2013-FY'2018 driven by many factors such as increasing
government initiatives to promote e-learning, increasing
adoption of technology, shortage of quality education,
convenience and cost factors and others
Healthcare supported by E-Learning is the future of
developing India.

CONCLUSION

How could a MBBS student hope to acquire the requisite

skill sitting miles away from a hospital or a senior doctor?
The answer is No, he cant, but one should make the best
use of technology.

Video lectures wont replace the teachers, e-books wont

replace libraries, simulation wont replace practical
sessions but for sure, theyll certainly make a supportive for
themselves.
Till now there is no standardization to the quality of these
course materials and course structure as well as
nomenclature of these programs. Until this is done, we
would have a long way to go before virtual learning could
be used to replace real time learning.

THANK YOU