The Future of Medical Education: Bridging Research Gaps Through Digital Innovation — An Indian Perspective

Abstract

Medical education worldwide is undergoing digital transformation; however, India struggles with inadequate infrastructure, faculty development, and research integration into its medical curriculum. While CBME is a welcome change, there is a lack of focus on competency development regarding crucial clinical skills, critical reasoning, lack of adherence to guidelines, infrastructure, and inadequate digital training that surfaced during COVID-19. Online learning has become difficult to access for students from rural areas and other backward communities. Technology-enabled learning and assessment tools including simulation laboratories are not widely used or available. Also, technology-enhanced teaching, using innovations such as artificial intelligence, immersive virtual reality, mobile medical education, flipped classrooms, game-based learning, orombotics, and simulation-based medical education, has not been fully integrated into the system. There is a lack of research culture and emphasis on evidence-based teaching and learning. Policy-level initiatives, faculty development programs, and multicentric collaborative research are the need of the hour. Indian medical education can be revolutionized by adopting a learner-centric approach, enabling technologies and pushing medical students and doctors toward research.