COVID-19 Pandemic and Academic Speculation of Medical Students of Bangladesh: A Cross-sectional, Comparative Study

BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions worldwide including education system. While the necessary focus has been on patient care andwellbeing of healthcare professionals, the impacts on medical students need to be discussed. MethodsThis cross-sectional comparative study was conducted to evaluate the academic speculation of medical students studying in government and non-government institute during COVID-19 pandemic. A structured questionnaire survey linked in the google form was used as study instrument and was distributed among study population through email, messenger, whatsapp and other social media. Total 1020 students were participated in the study ResultsIn this research, 441 (43.24%) and 579 (56.77%) students were from government and non-government medical colleges respectively. Opinion of both group was almost similar regarding disruption of medical education, loss of clinical skills and competency, future career plan, and stress and anxiety but significant differences were observed between both group regarding issue of financial burden, meaningful learning opportunities, fear of getting infected and maintenance of social distancing in hostel. ConclusionThe study revealed similar kind of viewpoint about disruption of education, loss of clinical skill and competency, changing aspects of future career plan and increased level of stress and anxiety among medical students of government and non-government institutes of Bangladesh but different speculations were found regarding issue of financial burden, meaningful learning opportunities, fear of getting infected and possibility of maintenance of social distancing in hostel.