Beyond the emergency department: Effects of COVID‐19 on emergency medicine resident education

Abstract

Background: In December 2019, a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) caused widespread clinical disease, triggering limited in-person gatherings and social-distancing guidelines to minimize transmission. These regulations led most emergency medicine (EM)residency training programs to rapidly transition to virtual didactics. We sought to evaluate EM resident perceptions of the effects of COVID-19 on their didactic and clinical education.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional survey study at seven EM residency programs using a mixed-methods approach designed to understand resident perceptions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their educational experience. Quantitative data were presented as percentages with comparison of subgroups, while open-ended responses were analyzed using qualitative methodology. Results:We achieved a 59% response rate (187/313). The majority of respondents (119/182, 65.4%) reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on their residency education with junior residents disproportionately affected. A total of 81 of 182 (44.5%) participants reported that one or more of their clinical rotations were partially or completely canceled due to the pandemic. Additionally, we identified four themes and 34 subthemes highlighting the contextual effects of the pandemic, which were then divided into positive and negative influences on the residency experience. The four themes include systems experience, clinical experience, didactic experience, and wellness. Conclusion:Our study examined the impact of COVID-19 on residents' educational experiences. We found overall mixed responses with a slightly negative impact on residency education, wellness, and clinical rotations, while satisfaction with EM as a career choice was increased. Factors influencing this included systems, clinical, and didactic experiences as well as overall wellness.

Socially distanced, virtually connected: Faculty and resident perceptions of virtual didactics

“…Additionally, residents felt that it was easier to access supplemental resources. These findings align with previously published work citing increased convenience and flexibility of virtual didactics in EM education as well as its drawbacks of lack of social interactions, significant reduction of hands‐on learning opportunities, and decreased engagement 10 …”

“…These findings align with previously published work citing increased convenience and flexibility of virtual didactics in EM education as well as its drawbacks of lack of social interactions, significant reduction of hands-on learning opportunities, and decreased engagement. 10 Distractions were perceived to be higher in the virtual format.…”

Humans not heroes: Canadian emergency physician experiences during the early COVID-19 pandemic

“…Hallway medicine disappeared and consultants were 'at the ready'. Similar to other studies, our physicians reported colleagues 17 and members of the public were respectful and thankful. 18 However, the positive impacts on physician mental health were short lived and the overall sense was that participants had experienced negative mental health during the early pandemic.…”

Distribution of core content coverage among three popular emergency medicine podcasts: A 10‐year analysis

“…COVID‐19 is a topic that has become extremely relevant to our clinical practice and was rapidly integrated into the podcasts despite not being part of the MCPEM or ABEM board examination coverage. While this demonstrates a potential benefit for access to time‐sensitive and rapidly changing information, research has shown that this may be disproportionately covered in resident education 12 . While it remains unclear what would be disproportionate coverage in podcasts, future research should compare this with the MPCEM and ABEM examination as well as to evaluate the impact of this on coverage of other topics.…”