Challenges to medical education at a time of physical distancing

Abstract

History and the social sciences: the longue durée. Review 2009; 32: 171-203. 2 Ponikowski P, Voors AA, Anker SD, et al. 2016 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure: The Task Force for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) developed with the special contribution of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC.

Rapid transition of a preclinical health systems science and social justice course to remote learning in the time of coronavirus

“…The abrupt changes left limited time to make decisions or test technological capabilities. Furthermore, we did not have the time to train facilitators in unfamiliar remote learning or virtual classroom requirements, a formidable challenge even when time is not a limitation [6,7]. Our approach followed an educational roadmap outlined by Tolsgaard and colleagues including triage of curricular content and how best to enact changes [8].…”

“…Though our institution possessed a wide array of remote capabilities, much of the technology was untested, and the technology team was stretched over the educational transition occurring across the entire medical school. We also could not assume that all of our students were digital natives who were adept with new technologies [20], or that they had equal access to digital resources and accessibilities [6]. This influenced our short-term decision-making to focus on simpler formats such as large lectures and to minimize the technological complexities of managing multiple small group facilitators.…”

Maintaining education, research and innovation in orthopaedic surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. The role of virtual platforms. From presential to virtual, front and side effects of the pandemic

“…The medical school students were affected too. In many countries the theoretical part activities shifted to online in the preclinical years [7,8]. New sophisticated tools are developed to measure the efficacy of the e-learning.…”

“…The side effects could be compensated in the following school year if normality equals again physical participation in class and school activities. Limitations on the clinical environment impacts classes, case discussions, lectures, internships and clinical rotations [8], as a result entire groups of students missed months of educational experiences, fundamental to their training as doctors. Authors also recognize that emergency remote teaching may not contain all the best practices in effective online instructions [9,10].…”

Restarting training and examinations in the era of COVID-19: a perspective from the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians UK

“…Now, as the system starts to revert to a new 'normal,' their anxieties about training and assessment are also increasing: just as COVID-19 has disrupted service delivery, it has also disrupted postgraduate medical education, training and assessment. 1 The pandemic forced us to meet and overcome many challenges and to find novel ways of delivering services. Many of these changes are now embedded and it is unlikely that we will revert to our previous ways of working.…”