WITHDRAWN: Employing Blended Learning Health Sciences Graduates in Saudi Arabia: Community Preceptors’ Evaluation of Interns

Abstract

Background Studies about internships are mostly done on the internship experiences of interns who received traditional face-to-face education, but limited studies were done on interns who studied under a blended learning educational style. Similarly, most studies on the professional competencies of health sciences graduates are done on the graduates of traditional schools. This study aims to describe the professional competencies of blended learning health sciences graduates through community preceptors’ evaluations of interns in Saudi Arabia. Methods This study is a secondary analysis of existing data that are available from the College of Health Sciences at the Saudi Electronic University. The study population consists of 96 community preceptors who evaluated 90 health sciences undergraduate interns during the last six months of 2019. Results Data analysis is a descriptive method that provides simple statistics related to evaluation variables. The study tested the technical competencies, nontechnical competencies, and employment perceptions of interns. The mean scores for technical and nontechnical competencies represent positive evaluations of health sciences interns who graduated from undergraduate programs. The standard deviations indicate that most responses are fairly close to the mean scores. The modes for all competences are excellent. Of the 96 evaluations, more than 90% answered “YES” to hiring blended learning health sciences graduates. Conclusions From the perception of community preceptors, blended learning graduates who majored in health sciences are competent and well prepared to be employed in the health sector in Saudi Arabia and globally.

The Role of E-Education in Preserving Educational Outcomes During Covid-19 Pandemic

“…The only available option to continue the educational process was e-education (Almaghaslah & Alsayari, 2020; "Coronavirus Outbreak Forces Arab Countries to Consider Long-Ignored Online Education," 2020). Meanwhile, the Saudi Electronic University (SEU) is a well know long-term reputable e-education institution, established back in 2012 (Alsadoon, 2020;Bugis, 2020). Since the SEU was already providing an e-education blinded curriculum, the Covid-19 pandemic has not led to significant disruption in its activity.…”