Publication:

Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on education and psychology of medical students in Himachal Pradesh (India)

Background WHO announced COVID-19 which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 as pandemic on 11 March 2020. In India first case of COVID-19 registered in Kerala on 29 January 2020 after that cases started to increase gradually. Government of India announced countrywide lockdown on 24 March 2020. All the academic institutes including medical colleges were closed till further orders. After forty days of strict lockdown the process of unlocking was started and medical students started to rejoin the college from the month of December 2020 onwards in a phased manner. The present study conducted on students studying in Dr. Radha Krishnan Government Medical College (DRKGMC) Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh regarding effect of lockdown on education and psychology of medical students.

Methods Study was conducted using a pretested structured questionnaire for data collection. Questionnaire was based on two components one was about the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on academics of students and second one about psychological effect on MBBS students.

Results Most of students said that they were not satisfied with online classes and had fear that they will lose one year of MBBS. There was overuse of mobile phones. Maximum students were occupied with idea of contracting COVID-19 and they were also thinking that they should be get tested for COVID-19 even they had no symptoms of disease. Very less students had difficulty in falling asleep and fear of death due to COVID-19.

Conclusions To defeat COVID-19 virus people have to follow COVID-19 appropriate behavior and vaccination.