Beyond COVID-19: the impact of recent pandemics on medical students and their education: a scoping review

Abstract

Introduction Over the past two years, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has greatly altered medical student education as well as daily life. Medical schools across the world were disrupted and had to immediately adapt the educational experience to the online environment in order to continue the delivery of quality medical education. However, COVID-19 was not the only recent pandemic. This posed the question, were similar disruptions and adaptations also seen in recent past pandemics such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that could have prepared medical educators for COVID-19? This scoping review investigated the educational and personal impact of recent pandemics on medical students. Methods This review followed the PRISMA-ScR guidelines for scoping reviews. Nine databases including PubMed, ERIC, and EMBASE were systematically searched using keywords and subject headings related to medical students and SARS, H1N1, MERS, Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19. Studies were limited to research studies published between 2000 and 2020 and in English. Based on exclusion and inclusion criteria, all studies were independently screened by two reviewers first by the title/abstract and then via full text. Data were extracted from the included studies and analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis. Results A total of 174 studies fit the criteria. Seven major themes emerged from those studies: educational adaptations and online modifications, knowledge and attitudes of students, mental wellness of students, student involvement and use of telehealth, student vaccination, physical wellness of students, and stigma. Conclusion This review provided insights into how medical students were affected by recent pandemics and their perceptions of pivoting to online education, mental health, and knowledge of the diseases. Additionally, this review showcases the various educational adaptations that emerged uniquely during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as telehealth services or video conferencing tools, that can be utilized in a post-pandemic environment.

Beyond the Digital Competencies of Medical Students: Concerns over Integrating Data Science Basics into the Medical Curriculum

“…Innovative educational approaches, such as active learning, self-directed and implicit learning, flipped classrooms, or gaming, might help us put the basics of data science into the right context, as they have already been brought into the discussion [ 2 , 5 , 6 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. In 2013, Bok et al [ 43 ] proposed workplace learning in medical education as a context for measuring and documenting competence development, together with formative feedback in addition to summative decisions.…”

“…Education is undergoing a swift and dramatic transformation in paradigm, in the context of digital policies aiming beyond mere digital literacy, such as those of the European Union [ 1 ]. Medical educators face the challenges of re-thinking their teaching approaches and adapting their courseware to synchronous and asynchronous educational activities, or even restructuring the whole curriculum [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. They are compelled to find solutions to incentivize their students’ resilience and help them develop higher-order thinking.…”

“…They are compelled to find solutions to incentivize their students’ resilience and help them develop higher-order thinking. Communities of educators have teamed up to develop and share workable solutions under Creative Commons licenses or as open-source software implementations [ 2 , 6 ]. In recent years, data science has emerged as an interdisciplinary field encompassing informatics, statistics, computer science, data management and mathematics, borrowing tools from machine learning and data mining.…”

The Development and Effects of a Social Constructivist Approach in an Interprofessional Discomfort Care Online Education Program

“…This study used an online learning program development process, the NBISD model, to develop educational programs. The COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in the advancement of web-based learning [34]. More helpfully, progressive information technology can be a vehicle for applying the social constructivist theory.…”

“Burnout felt inevitable”: Experiences of university staff in educating the nursing and allied health workforce during the first COVID-19 waves

“…Much of the literature published to date focuses on the impact on students of the sudden switch to COVID-safe teaching arrangements, which were generally of limited duration (6,(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) or focused on specific responses to eLearning (21,22) with medicine most represented. Very little of the literature has been empirical in nature (17).…”