PECULIARITIES OF COVID-19 COURSE IN STUDENTS OF THE MEDICAL FACULTY IN THE CONDITIONS OF DISTANCE LEARNING

Abstract

Summary. The relevance of the epidemiology  of COVID-19 is not in doubt, as every day the statistics are updated with new data on the incidence. Students  are in distance learning to prevent the spread of infection.

The aim of the study – to determine the percentage of medical students who contracted a coronavirus infection during the last academic year, to determine the risk factors and COVID-19 features in an outpatient setting.

Materials and Methods. The study was conducted by remote on-line questionnaire, the results were processed according to the general rules of variation statistics.

Results. As a result of the study, it was found that 33.3 % of second-third year students relapsed to COVID-19, the maximum number of cases occurred in the fall of 2020 (45.5 %) and in January–February 2021 – 27.2 %; in half of the respondents the disease was mild; 86.4 % – were treated on an outpatient basis; the leading symptoms were fever, loss of smell and taste, headache and general fatigue. In 9.0 % of respondents, laboratory-confirmed coronavirus infection was asymptomatic.

Conclusions. The study testifies to the informativeness and safety of this method and allows to assess the level and features of morbidity among medical students. Given the continuation of training in many medical schools in the distance on a mixed mode, the risk of infection during close contact with classmates, we plan to expand and continue such research.