The Online Courses at OpenWHO Platform Integrated into the Medical Undergraduate Curriculum to Teach Microbiology: A Microbiologist’s Perspective

Venkataramana Kandi^1,

¹Department of Microbiology Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar India

Cite this paper:
Venkataramana Kandi. The Online Courses at OpenWHO Platform Integrated into the Medical Undergraduate Curriculum to Teach Microbiology: A Microbiologist’s Perspective. American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. 2023; 11(3):90-93. doi: 10.12691/ajidm-11-3-1

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has severely affected people throughout the world. The initial months of the pandemic were horrifying due to the increased spread of infections and the resultant morbidity and mortality. Healthcare workers (HCWs) and hospital establishments were overwhelmed by high rates of infections and hospital admissions. Additionally, the general population, mostly belonging to developing and poor countries, had minimal knowledge of infectious diseases and their dynamics including disease transmission and its control and prevention. Despite having some basic knowledge, HCWs struggled to prevent infections due to a lack of infrastructure and logistics that included laboratory equipment and personal protective gear among others. The pandemic showed how people and administrations throughout the world were under-prepared to face such infectious disease catastrophic situations. Therefore, both medical and non-medical persons require some basic training that prepares them to face pandemic-like situations in the future. Additionally, the knowledge could be extremely helpful to HCWs to efficiently manage patients. The medical undergraduate curriculum should include and integrate online courses which stress on the contemporary issues related to infectious diseases and public health problems that may be unavailable in the text books and routine training processes. We attempt to increase the focus on platforms that disseminate knowledge that meets international standards and is useful both during routine lives and patient management. OpenWHO is such a platform that is being discussed in this editorial.

Keywords:
OpenWHO Infections Healthcare workers (HCWs) Knowledge Infectious Diseases curriculum medical undergraduate public health pandemic

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