Experience of operating a medical humanities course at one medical school during the COVID-19: a retrospective study

Background: This study summarizes the experience of operating a 'Medical Humanities' course, which was taught remotely to maintain activities and discussions at medical schools in Daegu, Korea during the sudden and unexpected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: The subjects of this study were 73 first- and 79 second-grade medical students who took the medical humanities (1) and (2) courses among first- and second-grade students of Yeungnam University College of Medicine in 2020. Of the 152 students who agreed to the online survey, 123 completed the survey. Self-, environmental, and program evaluations were conducted on the study subjects, and differences according to grade and gender were analyzed. Results: As a result of the study, a significant difference between self-evaluation and environmental evaluation was confirmed. Self-evaluation was determined to be higher in the first grade than in the second grade. The environmental evaluation showed that male students were more satisfied than female students and students generally had difficulties in the classroom environment. Of the applications used in class, the highest satisfaction was observed with KakaoTalk (Kakao Corp.) and Zoom (Zoom Video Communications Inc.). At the end of COVID-19, the students preferred online classes. Conclusion: If the learning environment for online classes is well prepared and systematic provisions are made, such as class operations that are suitable for the subject, effective education and learning can be achieved by taking advantage of both face-to-face and online classes.