Background Online learning can play a vital role in the process of teaching and learning during Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, learners’ satisfaction is extremely important in effective implementation of the online learning, especially at institutions where it is newly adopted. Objective To assess satisfaction towards online learning and its predictors among students at Chitwan Medical College, Bharatpur. Method A web-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken among 434 undergraduate and postgraduate students from various academic programs who had participated in the online classes started during this COVID-19 pandemic. A structured questionnaire consisting of 31 items (5-point Likert scale) covering four major student satisfaction domains (learners’ dimensions, technological characteristics, instructors’ characteristics and course management and coordination) was distributed to the students using Google Form. Result More than half (53.5%) of the students were satisfied with the online learning, while 29.7% gave neutral views. Bivariate analyses found that all four domains scores were positively correlated with each other as well as with the students’ overall satisfaction towards learning. In multivariate analysis, female gender [aOR: 2.72, p = 0.013], WiFi as internet modality for learning [aOR: 3.36, p = 0.001) and learners’ dimension score [aOR: 1.27, p<0.001] were the significant predictors of students’ satisfaction. Conclusion Although recently adopted, the satisfaction of the students towards online classes appears good, and prioritizing the identified predictors and working on the weak links could assist in enhancing students’ satisfaction and better outcomes.

Online learning has been in a rising trend across the world due to increasing technology in education. Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic enforced all the academic institutions to start online classes for the students. But the students’ readiness for the adoption of online learning remains unknown. Hence, this study aimed to assess the readiness of online classes among students. Descriptive cross-sectional web based survey was carried out among 704 students who have enrolled in various streams of Bachelor level programs in Chitwan Medical College. The finding of this study revealed that 87.1% of students from various faculties were ready for online classes during COVID pandemic and 88.8% had internet facility in their home setting. Furthermore, this study found that readiness for online classes was significantly higher among female than male students (89.7% vs.83.5%, p=0.016) and students who had internet accessibility in their residence than those who did not have it (83.8% vs.34.2%, p=<0.001) but there was no significant association between readiness for online classes with academic programs (p=0.062) and years (p=0.905). Therefore, online learning can be considered as a viable alternative method in the academic institutions for the students. Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; online classes; readiness; students.

Background: Healthcare workers like nurses’ are the primary group who come in contact with patients, an important source of exposure to infected cases in healthcare settings. Co­rona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought all the health care professionals including nurses to work as a frontline member which may bring threat to mental wellbeing. The nurse’s psychological impact including stress and anxiety remains unknown. Hence, this study aimed to assess the stress and anxiety regarding COVID-19 among nurses working at Chitwan medical college and teaching hospital. Methods: A Descriptive cross-sectional survey was carried out among nurses working in Chitwan Medical College and teaching hospital. A total of 181 Nurses were selected through non probability consecutive sampling from various wards of Chitwan Medical College and Teaching Hospital. Data was collected using structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 20 for window using descriptive statistics. Results: The findings of the study revealed that out of 181 nurses 54.7% nurses reported moder­ate and 37.6% reported high level of stress and 10.5% of nurses reported mild to moderate level of anxiety. Conclusions: Considerable proportion of nurses working in different wards of hospital appear to experience some degrees of stress and anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, it is essential that health organization takes measures to improve nurses’ mental health by intervening stress management programme to ensure positive attitude and maintain mental well-being.

Background: Health Care Workers (HCWs) face huge emotional burden to balance the fundamental “duty to treat” with their parallel duties to family and loved ones. This study aimed to explore emo­tions and coping strategies of HCWs working in hospitals during COVID-19 Pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional survey consisted 482 randomly selected HCWs working in five govern­ment and private hospitals of Chitwan. Data were collected using self-administered structured ques­tionnaire for emotions and Brief COPE questionnaire for coping strategies. Forms were distributed to the HCWs using Google Form. Collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Majorities of the HCWs were moderate to very much worried to do their job (75.3%), infect­ing family members/others (74.9%), lack of government steps for infection control (74.1%), getting infections from patients (67.9%), lack of treatment protocol (67.6%), inadequate specialty hospitals (64.7%) , man powers (61.4%), increasing COVID-19 cases (60.4%) as well as they avoided social gath­ering (72.8%). Nurses, female and HCWs with bachelors’ level experienced more emotional reactions (anxiety, sadness, shock, anger and enthusiasm) compared to doctors, male and HCWs with master and above education (p=<0.05). Adoption of coping strategies was higher among nurses compared to doctors (p=<0.05). Shock and sadness were the significant predictors of problem focused coping whereas anxiety and anger were the significant predictors of emotion-focused coping. Conclusions: Negative emotions and adoption of coping strategies are common among HCWs during this pandemic. Therefore, government and concern authorities need to organize screening program and psychological interventions for HCWs using identified predictors to enhance their mental wellbeing.