What You Gain and What You Lose in COVID-19: Perception of Medical Students on their Education

Abstract

The confirmation of a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020 proved that the SARS-CoV-2 virus would become a worldwide health issue (1). The Brazilian situation was no different from other countries: there was pressure on the health system and health workers. According to an article published by former Brazilian Health Ministry members, the country has been preparing itself for the COVID-19 disease since January 10, 2020 (2), and in many cities and states, isolation protocols have been set up (3). Even so, the number of cases and deaths keep rising in the country, counting 514,849 official cases and 29,314 deaths on June 1, 2020 (4). Many adaptations are being made in the way society works. Medical training had to be adapted in this context. In many schools, the internship was interrupted while other educational activities were adapted to virtual learning environments, with the introduction of web-based activities and new teaching technologies (5,6). These resources, despite being already present in many schools, became the only way of teaching due to isolation protocols demanding many adaptations (7). In Brazil, on the same hand as what was proposed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (8), 1 st to the 4 th years of medical school had their on-site activities suspended. The 5 th and 6 th years, our internship students, are still going to their university-hospitals, as interns work as health-staff in many situations. Their engagement was endorsed by the Federal Government COVID-19 combat strategy (9), which suggests using the internship labor force for the epidemic combat, in similar ways that are proposed by others (10,11). At the same time, a provisory measurement taken by the president allowed medical students to graduate with 75% completion from their internship (12). In the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, graduation has been divided in four main educational strategies.

Online learning and COVID-19: a meta-synthesis analysis

“…Three studies used more than one platform toll ( 7 , 8 , 9 ). One study did not show any information ( 2 ).…”

“…Chinelatto et al described the students’ perception of a medical program’s adaptation to remote learning ( 7 ). The graduation committee decided to interrupt educational activities for two weeks to give teachers time to reorganize their activities, outcomes, and educational strategies for the virtual environment.…”

“…It caused an abrupt shift from face-to-face to online classes without enough time to plan and prepare virtual educational programs ( 5 , 6 ). Teachers restructured their educational plans and developed skills for teaching in a virtual environment while providing emotional support for their students ( 7 ).…”

Effectiveness of Modalities to Teach Evidence Based Medicine to Pediatric Clerkship Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The shift to distanced learning may serve as a footing for continued virtual teaching options even in the post-pandemic era. [11][12][13] Since completion of this study, the SPM has been incorporated into the clerkship curriculum and feedback has been positive. We have several strengths and limitations to our study.…”

“…Furthermore, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there has also been a rapid shift to promote asynchronous learning through electronic platforms. [11][12][13] Electronic self-paced modules (SPM) may be a promising alternative given the flexibility it offers students and the appeal it has to the millennial generation. [14][15][16] Studies have compared TDS to SPM in teaching EBM to undergraduate MS, and have found SPM as effective as TDS in improving knowledge and attitudes.…”