Strengthening medical parasitology education: implementing an e-Parasitology website at a Latin America university.

Abstract

The Medical Technology Department at University of Antofagasta (Chile) has incorporated the open-access virtual website e-Parasitology© (e-Parasitology© website) to strengthen the virtual teaching of medical/clinical parasitology in two healthcare programmes during the coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) in 2020/21. Second year BSc Nursing and third year BSc Medical Technology students highly valued this intervention, as they reported learning about the specific pathology, prevention, and treatment of important worldwide parasitic diseases. Eighty percent of students from both cohorts also indicated acquisition of the competences to diagnose the infections due to these human parasites. Moreover, the results collected would suggest that e-Parasitology©, specifically its virtual microscope and library of digitized specimens, could be an appropriate (self-)learning tool to acquire time-consuming laboratory skills to identify common enteric parasites affecting Chile. Results collected also showed that the virtual website enhanced the interest of Chilean students on the study of medical and clinical parasitology, which also suggested a strengthening of the syllabus of parasitology in their respective pro-grammes to acquire a more comprehensive knowledge of this medical discipline, especially from Medical Technology students. As such, e-Parasitology© would be an appropriate virtual tool to strengthen the teaching status of parasitology to tackle important parasitic diseases.