Distance Learning (EaD) has been advancing rapidly in the country. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for online courses increased even more, boosting the development of new technologies and tools for distance education, even in the medical field. In the last decade, EaD grew 474%, according to the Higher Education Census 2021, released by Inep (National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira) and by MEC (Ministry of Education).
Survey data also show that the majority of students studying at a distance are studying at private institutions. In fact, there was a jump from 24.3% to 41.4% of these students, between 2018 and 2021. In addition, six out of 10 people who start graduation opt for EaD. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, the number of freshmen in in-person graduations dropped by 28%.
The area of medical aesthetics has stood out as one of the most sought following by health professionals. According to ABIHPEC (Brazilian Association of the Personal Hygiene, Perfumery and Cosmetics Industry), the country grew around 527% in the area of beauty and aesthetics. In fact, Brazil is the third largest beauty market in the world, behind the United States and China.
According to Grand View Research, the expectation is that the global aesthetics market will reach US$ 124.7 billion by 2028. According to plastic surgeon and founder of the Meta Institute, Dr. Patrícia Leite Nogueira, during the health crisis, with a scenario of social distancing and restrictions, companies needed to adopt digital tools and changes in teaching methodology.
“Before the pandemic, there was a lot of prejudice once morest distance learning. That has changed. Online activities end up better serving physicians, who have a busy life and often don’t have time to specialize or learn new techniques in face-to-face courses,” said Patrícia.
The doctor believes that the online course has enabled a series of benefits, such as, for example, the doctor being able to attend the course wherever he is, whenever he is available. According to Dr. Patrícia, companies need to keep up with this social and technological change.
“With online teaching platforms, companies have also discovered savings in time and money with the use of technology. On the other hand, online content needs to be rich, technically speaking, as it deals with the teaching of techniques for aesthetic procedures”, he stresses, noting that it is necessary to have professionals with good teaching skills, direct and with no reserve of knowledge.
The founder of Meta Institute explains that, in distance courses aimed at physicians, procedures are taught in classes of approximately 30 to 40 minutes on a specific topic.
“The anatomical structures are reviewed and the procedure is carried out step by step, with all the information (product used, cannula or needle, injection plan, site and form of application) in a model patient”, he clarifies.
